


Let's spend the night together

by rechecorp



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Slow Burn, owning up to mistakes, sort of fix it, touching because i'm wipped for affection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:02:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 38,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23160652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rechecorp/pseuds/rechecorp
Summary: A conclusion to the mess our lovely ladies find themselves in at season 5. Then in later chapters, random nights Lena and Kara spend together mending their relationship and redescovering it. And sometimes fighting bad guys too. Can something better rise from the ashes of what their friendship used to be?
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 39
Kudos: 284





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! A few clarifications before we start.  
> First of all, English is not my native language so I apologize in advance for any errors in spelling or grammar though I hope there are few.  
> Second, I haven’t watched all of season 5 nor do I plan to at the moment, so I’ve kept informed via twitter and such, and therefore I’ve taken a few liberties and made some things up, LOL.  
> I have no idea exactly how Lena’s project NN works (does anyone?) so I’ve made that up as well.  
> I inspired part of the chapter on the comic "Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade."  
> This fic is going to have several chapters but I don’t know how many, also it will have some angst BUT a happy ending because real life is sad enough as it is. And I’m a sucker for touchy-feely tension and stuff.  
> This is the first time I’m writing supercorp and it’s been years since I’ve written anything so… here it is. Without further ado…

Like it always happened –what with her superspeed and all– she saw everything happen in slow motion. Except, she wasn’t up to the full extent of her capabilities, mostly due to the kryptonite bullet currently lodged on her shoulder. Still, Kara could see in detail the way Lena’s facial features constricted as the sound of gunshot reverberated through the closed-in space they found themselves in. For a fraction of a second she thought it was the kryptonite itself that made Lena’s eyes shine a bright green. Then, contrary to the last slowed down second, nearly too fast, and that was saying something, the cry of pain that accompanied those facial features made Kara’s heart almost jump out of her chest, bullet almost forgotten.

“Lena!” She screamed in alarm, like the woman hadn’t just shot her with the only thing that could penetrate her skin and make her feel like her blood was boiling and her entire body was on fire.

“Kara!” Lena moaned in pain, gun falling as her hands came up to press both sides of her head, knees bending and hitting the ground. “No!” She shrieked, a pained sound following, then a scream.

In the span of a second Kara could feel all sorts of emotions coursing through her: _worry, realization, joy, confusion, panic_.

For the last few months she had tried to convince herself on all sorts of things: that she felt certain things and didn’t feel certain others, that she was doing the right thing, that her choices were for the best, that some people deserved another chance… All in all, the only certainty she had always had was that Lena was _good_. Ever since she had flown to her apartment after trying to fix the past, all Kara had been waiting for was for Lena to walk into a room, any room at any time, and tell her she was right. Right in telling her all those things –hurtful things– and making her see reason. Of course, she felt a little full of herself just for that thought alone, that expectation. She knew she had gone about things the wrong way, but she wasn’t perfect, and pride was one of her many faults. She supposed that didn’t make her that much different to any human, and she supposed, it was one of the things she and her best friend had in common. Well… or former best friend, she couldn’t be sure. So imagine her surprise when, the next time she saw her, her probably-not-best-friend-at-the-moment was aiming a gun at her, accompanied with the familiar excruciating burn of kryptonite. She had felt dread forming on her chest like lead weight and falling down all through her stomach, too shocked to feel anything else, too shocked to react.

_“Finally we meet again, supergirl.” Lena had said. “Surprised to see me like this? Thought I would come crying to your arms begging for forgiveness?” The smile that adorned her face was the most vicious Kara had yet seen on her, hateful, vengeful, disgusted. It reminded her of another Lena from a parallel universe._

_“L-Lena?” Was all she had managed to get out, too stunned for anything else._

_“I knew you’d come, always hoping for the best. You’re so full of yourself! Thought I’d see things your way? Lie down at your feet and do anything to get back to your good graces! Let you manipulate me all over again! Let you pretend to be my friend just to keep a close eye on me!” There were actual tears in her eyes, threatening to roll down her cheeks. “Well, guess what? I am actually here to end this farce once and for all!” Her hand had risen, then, allowing her to feel that burn._

_“Lena, please!” She had raised her hands, reaching out. “What is going on? This isn’t you!” She could feel tears forming in her eyes as well, clouding her vision a little._

_“Isn’t me? You don’t know the first thing about me! I’m a villain, right?” A scornful laugh had felt like a dagger to her heart. “Surely not the girl you thought you’d befriended. Although, I got to give it to you, you are an exceptionally good actress._ You are a kind, beautiful soul. _” She mocked. “I really fell for it for a hot second.”_

_“Lena…” Kara felt her voice trembling, her hands, her legs._

_“I’m done playing these games.” Lena lifted her chin up, raising her gun. “After I take care of this, the world will be a better place. No one will want to hurt another being, humanity will be at peace, and there will be no need for heroes.” A frown had formed between her eyes, then, and the hand holding the gun hesitated for a second, a short second that Kara thought she had imagined._

_She saw the finger press the trigger, saw as the bullet sped towards her, thought about that time, in a parallel universe, where something exactly like this happened, when she let herself be hurt by another version of Lena, the only person she knew she wouldn’t be able to fight, to hurt back. She never thought it would actually come to this…_

Kara rushed towards her, the pain in her body slowing her down. Lena was lying on the floor, her body contorted in pain, the scream coming out of her piercing through the heroine almost as strongly as the kryptonite coursing through her veins.

“Lena! Lena, please!” She felt helpless. She knew, something was making Lena do this, and now torturing her, something she didn’t know how to fight.

“Stay away from her.” A familiar voice warned. Kara turned around to see Lex Luthor smiling.

She stood up as fast as she could, clenching her fists and powering through her pain.

“Stop this! Whatever this is! Right now!”

“Oh, this is just minor inconvenience; my little sister will finish her task.” He sounded amused.

Behind her, Lena had stopped screaming and stood up, gun aiming at Kara once again, eyes shining bright green. Except, her face was still contorted in pain, all mockery and malice from before gone.

“What are you doing to her?” Kara whispered, afraid.

“Me?” He gasped, bringing a hand to his chest. “My sister’s a genius, this is all her doing!” He laughed. “Her emotional intelligence, on the other hand… Well, let’s just say she’s very easy to steer once you learn to push the right buttons.”

Kara reached for his neck, the anger coursing through her taking control, but she was weakened, and with a quick punch to her face, Lex sent her flying a few feet, landing her on the ground, right at Lena’s feet. She pointed the gun down, right at her face, and Kara could see her hand shaking, tears rolling down her face and spilling down her jaw.

“This is harder than I thought.” Lex said almost to himself. “What are you waiting for, Lena? She lied to you for years! Pretending to be your friend, waiting for you to make a wrong move to prove that you’re a villain! She’s hurt you so much!”

Kara felt her own lips trembling. She felt so guilty, and though she had tried to reason that Lena was responsible for her own actions, she had still not been able to forgive herself for hurting her friend, for fooling herself into believing she was protecting her when all she was actually doing was hurting her and deceiving her, just like every other person in her life.

“Don’t you want people to stop hurting each other?” He went on. “She is the only thing in the way of that! Of all of this coming true!”

Lena’s hand kept shaking, and the tears kept on flowing down. Kara reached up, her hand holding Lena’s on the gun. The brunette screamed once again, falling to the ground and holding onto her head.

“No!” She whimpered. “Stop! Stop, please!”

“Lena!” Kara cried, crawling towards her and holding onto her arms. She kept crying out in agony, now twisting on the floor, begging incoherently from the pain.

“Get up!” Lex screamed. “Hurt her!”

“Stop this! You’re hurting her!” Kara cried, desperate. She had never in her life felt more helpless and scared. Her friend was crying out in pain right in front of her and there was nothing she could do.

“You must do as I command! Kill her!”

As he said this, Lena’s eyes rolled to the back of her head, which flew back against the ground with a harsh blow.

“No!” Kara screamed, hurting her throat. She got up, fire in her veins forgotten, and grabbed Lex by the neck, lifting him from the ground. “Stop this right now! Or I swear to God!” She couldn’t tell the difference between the burning kryptonite and the blinding rage coursing through her veins.

His eyes veered towards his sister on the ground, something akin to fear in them.

“This –is not –possible.” He gritted out.

Kara couldn’t stand the pain, and her friend’s agony made her legs shake. She couldn’t control her tears, her anger, the fear taking over everything.

Glass from a window next to the roof broke, J’onn flying through it.

“Supergirl!” He screamed.

Kara pushed Lex back, right at the martian, who caught him deftly by the arms and immobilized him. She was by Lena’s side in a second, but her friend kept twisting and screaming in agony.

“Make it stop!” Kara wailed, shaking and crying. She gathered her friend in her arms, but she didn’t react, her mind elsewhere.

“What are you doing to her?” J’onn cried in shock. Lex actually cackled.

“My stupid little sister can’t even hurt her! So much for supergirl breaking her heart!”

Kara was sobbing by now, the physical pain and the hurt from those words making her feel like she was about to pass out.

“W-wake up, Lena…” Sound started to feel farther and farther away, but she held on tightly to the shaking body in her arms. She could faintly hear other people rushing in, screaming her name and then Lena’s, who suddenly stopped moving, body going slack. In alarm, she made an extraordinary effort into channeling what little force she had left to search for the sound of Lena’s heart, and once she found it, in relief, she felt her own body go slack as well, everything around her going black.

* * *

Kara woke up with a jolt, sitting up in what seemed like a hospital bed. Straining her ears, she searched for it once again, Lena’s heartbeat, and felt her own heart come down from her throat to its rightful place once she found it. She was there in a second, finding her unconscious friend in a gurney, looking pale but alive, a slight frown between her eyes.

“Lena…” She whispered, hand coming up to briefly ghost over her hair. She used her x-ray vision to check on her head, remembering the sound it made as it repeatedly hit the ground. There was nothing visibly hurt.

“Kara!” She heard her sister’s surprised words from behind her.

“Alex! Is she –how is she? And where’s Lex? What happened?” She rushed out.

“You should be in bed.” Her sister rested her hands on Kara’s arms, trying and failing to move her even an inch. She sighed. “Lena’s fine. We ran a few scans and there seems to be no brain damage, although we can’t be certain until she wakes up, which she hasn’t yet.”

Kara closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Brain damage… that couldn’t happen. Not to a mind as bright as Lena’s, that would be a crime. She felt her gut twist.

“Where’s Lex? And what did he do to her?” She gritted through her teeth.

“Well, it seems as though he used Lena’s creation against her or something of the sort.” She frowned. “We’re still not sure, but… from what we’ve gathered…” She grimaced.

“What? Just say it!” She whisper-shouted.

“He tried to mind-control Lena into killing you.”

“So I’ve heard.” Kara nodded impatiently, motioning for her sister to continue.

“Well, it seems she fought against it and it nearly destroyed her mind.” Alex glanced at the unconscious body on the bed, a look between pity and guilt.

“That… that… motherfucker!” Kara let out, surprising even herself. Alex’s eyes were bulging out of their sockets. “Where is he?”

“He’s in custody at the FBI. Apparently, before trying to make Lena do this, he tested it out on civilians and aliens at a secret lab right below where we found you.”

Kara pinched the bridge of her nose, taking a deep breath and turning away from her sister and towards Lena.

“Kara…”

“Can you… I want… would you mind leaving me alone?” She whispered.

“Let me just check her vitals and then I’ll…” she made a hand gesture. Kara nodded, going to stand in the corner of the room. “You should also rest, Kara… The sun lamp –“

“Maybe later.” Kara interrupted.

“But –“

“Alex. Not now.” She grunted.

Her sister pursed her lips and frowned, clearly hesitant.

“You know, this isn’t your fault…”

“I left her alone to deal with that monster after I hurt her so much…”

“Kara…”

“I went out on that stupid date while my friend was being manipulated by a psychopathic abuser!” She felt tears threatening to spill and turned around, back hunched as her hands rested at the foot of Lena’s bed. “Please Alex, just leave me here alone. I need this.” She whimpered.

“Okay…”

She heard footsteps retreating and allowed the tears to flow; back trembling with sobs she tried to keep quiet. It was true, she regretted it all. She regretted thinking someone as vulnerable and hurt as Lena could take some tough love and learn from it, when in actuality all she should have done was sit down with her and explain how much she cared, even if Lena was being unreasonable. For all the times she had lied, right to her face, made James spy on her, say hurtful things to her as supergirl and then act like nothing was wrong as Kara Danvers… she realized how fucked up that actually was. She was selfish, not daring to own up to her actions, to come clean, until it was too late, until the damage was too big to pass it up as just one mistake. The truth was, lies had snowballed, and even though she knew now that there was never a right time to speak, she wondered why she could never just do right by Lena. Maybe if she had hugged her, told her how much she meant to her…

“I should have been there for you.” Kara whispered, daring to hold onto Lena’s right hand. “I’m sorry…”

She grabbed a nearby chair and sat down next to the gurney, watching Lena in what seemed like a troubled dream, her brow furrowing deeper and eyes moving side to side behind her eyelids. She looked so small… Kara thought it was the first time she had ever seen her without any make up, she was pale and there were deep dark circles under her eyes. Still, her skin was perfect, marble-like, unblemished. She couldn’t believe how things had gone down… a few months ago they were so happy and whenever Kara thought about telling her the truth, she knew things would never be the same. The underlying fear of losing her friend forever sometimes kept her up at night, but she had never thought she could _actually_ lose her. At worst, she imagined keeping up with Lena on the news, through common friends or even spying on her just to check that she was ok, but actual physical harm, _life threatening harm_ … She would do everything in her power to see Lex brought to justice. She remembered her hands around his neck while Lena was in pain and thought about how close she had been to just squeezing too tight. The desperation she felt then was so alike to what she had felt when Alex was trapped inside that tank, water going up, slowly bringing her closer and closer to death. She could almost feel Lena’s lifeless body falling onto her arms; hear the silence as her heart stopped beating. She didn’t realize tears were once again falling down her cheeks, wetting her chest and arm. She tried to focus on the sound of Lena’s actual beating heart right next to her, but instead felt her chest constricting, heaving, air not reaching her lungs. She got up from her chair on wobbly legs that threatened to give out, and suddenly there were hands holding her up.

“Supergirl! Kara!” Nia was struggling with Kara’s weight, but helped her down onto the chair once more with J’onn’s sudden help.

He pressed a hand to her chest.

“Just breathe, in and out, slowly; in through your nose, out through your mouth.” He instructed.

She tried to follow, slowly feeling the air reach her lungs. Nia’s left hand was on her shoulder while her right one delicately wiped tears from her face and chin. Kara couldn’t meet their eyes. She felt embarrassed, guilty, angry, all sorts of things.

“She’s going to be okay…” Nia whispered, her voice laced with concern.

Except, they couldn’t possibly know that. Alex had said they couldn’t discard _brain damage_ until Lena woke up. And then there was her emotional state; after everything she had been through, to be used by her brother with apparently her own invention to turn her into a murderer… who knew how long it would take for Lena to recover from that.

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah… thanks.” She answered automatically, turning her face to look away from them.

“I think you should rest under the sun lamps for a while –“J’onn started.

“I’m not leaving.” She interrupted.

He sighed and nodded, knowing there was no use in arguing with her right now.

“I think you should know Lex Luthor is under FBI custody. Before all of this, it seems he experimented on humans, making them hurt aliens and do terrible things to test the extent of his mind controlling device.” When she didn’t say anything, he concluded. “We still don’t understand how Lena was able to fight it, but he tried to have her kill you and failed.”

“She shot me.” Kara finally looked up and met his eye. “But as soon as she did, it seems like she was trying to take control of her actions. Then… she s-started screaming…” She took a deep breath. “And when Lex ordered her to kill me it just got worse, her eyes rolled back…” She couldn’t continue speaking without breaking down again.

“I see…” He seemed to be lost in thought for a moment. Kara raised her hand to rest atop Nia’s on her shoulder and squeezed it in gratitude.

“Well… it seems like her mind was somehow rejecting her brother’s commands.” J’onn reasoned.

“How did you stop him?”

“I didn’t. Perhaps she stopped it all by herself.” He frowned.

Kara turned her head to look at Lena still lying on the gurney. She was a genius after all, if there was a mind powerful enough to fight off mind control, maybe it was hers.

“Can I at least bring you water and something to eat? You look like you need it.” Nia interrupted.

“Okay.” Kara tried to smile, but it came out like a grimace. She didn’t know if she could eat at all right now, but her throat did felt dry and hoarse.

“I thought about scanning her mind.” J’onn spoke once Nia was out of the room. “But I think her brain has gone through enough already.”

“I just hope… there are no sequels.” She looked up at him, unsure of what his answer may be, and also scared to hear it.

“We can’t be sure, the brain’s a delicate thing… and I can’t imagine the effort she must have put into fighting Lex’s commands.”

Kara rubbed her face with both palms.

“Can you… may I be left alone?”

He seemed to hesitate saying something for a moment, but thought better of it and nodded.

“You should get some rest.” He said as parting.

After drinking the water bottle Nia brought and asking her to leave, Kara once again placed her chair by Lena’s bed, this time closer, and rested her right cheek next to Lena’s right hand. It felt a little warmer, Lena’s breathing was calmer and it gave her just the tiniest bit of comfort that she felt herself drifting off. A while later she woke up when Alex came to check Lena’s vitals once more, failing to make Kara leave but at least succeeding in making her eat a BLT sandwich. It had been hours, but she was having a hard time letting her friend out of her sight. She didn’t know if Lena would want her there once she woke up, and if she didn’t, she didn’t know if she ever would. A feeling of loss was overpowering her even as she tried to stop it, Lena was _right there_ , and even if she didn’t want to see her anymore, she was going to be okay, because she _had to_ , because Kara couldn’t conceive anything else.

She first saw Lena’s fingers twitch, then heard a small sound coming from her throat. Her heart started beating a tad faster and she winced in pain. Kara stood up, holding her breath. Lena squeezed her eyes before opening them, blinking slowly. The blonde hadn’t realized how dark the room had gotten, didn’t realize at least eight hours had passed since she first stood guard by her friend’s bedside.

“Kara?” Lena whispered, her voice hoarse. Kara had never been happier hearing the sound of her own name. She realized her hand was still holding Lena’s and she let go hesitantly, the movement slow and deliberate.

“Lena, are you okay?” Her voice trembled.

“Aren’t you the one that got shot?” She answered back. So she remembered. “I… I didn’t mean to, I know you probably won’t believe me but –“

“What?” Kara took her hand once more, not really thinking. “I know it wasn’t you! It was Lex, he –“

“He used my own invention against me.” Not a minute had passed since she had woken up and already she sounded so self-depreciating. “He fooled me and I –“

“Lena, please, he’s evil, and you –“

“I just wanted to do _good_ , to stop people from harming each other.” She sobbed, then grimaced, her left hand coming up to press against her forehead.

“Are you okay?” Kara asked in alarm.

“My head hurts.” She whined, and the blonde could hear her own heart breaking a little.

“Please, don’t think about this now, you’re hurt!” She pleaded. “Let me call Alex and –“ She started moving, but Lena turned her right hand over and grabbed onto her own, trying to stop her from leaving. Of course she didn’t have the strength, but Kara felt her intention and immediately turned around.

“Don’t leave me, please…” She whispered. “I… I didn’t know he had kryptonite, I…”

“That doesn’t matter.” She cut her off. “Listen, I know he was manipulating your brain, I know he wanted you to kill me and you fought back. Actually no one knows how you did it, but you did.” Kara dared to use her right hand to brush the back of it against Lena’s temple, who closed her eyes and breathed out. “I just wanna call Alex, have her check that you’re okay.”

“Alex…” Lena frowned, confused.

“It’ll be three seconds, you can count them.” Kara gently released her hand from her friend’s hold and used her superspeed to find her sister. “She’s awake.” She informed her.

Alex jumped out of her seat in fright.

“Kara! Oh my god!” Her hand reached for her chest, but Kara was already gone. Alex walked quickly to the medical room and found her sister by Lena’s side; the brunette was looking at her with confusion.

“Alex…” She trailed off, her brow furrowed. Then her expression finally changed, something akin to recognition, and her jaw set as she looked away.

Kara watched in silence as her sister checked on her friend, shining a light in her eyes, making her focus her sight and asking her a few questions. As the tests progressed, Lena seemed to start coming back to herself, but at the same time her body became tenser, her eyes harder, her jaw clenched. Alex walked away to fetch a water bottle and Kara hesitated. She didn’t know how to proceed.

Lena turned her head to look at her, her expression indefinable.

“Do you hate me?”

“I could never hate you.” Kara answered without a second to think.

“Do you think… I’m a villain?” Her chin trembled for a moment before she clenched her jaw.

“You almost died to stop yourself from killing me, so how could I think that?” Kara rushed to be near Lena. “You also could have killed me with those kryptonite cannons, but you stopped them. You saved my sister’s life, you stopped aliens from invading Earth… I could go on…”

“Then why –“

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I said that to you and I’m sorry for being so harsh. And I’m sorry for lying and being a terrible friend. Hurting you was the biggest mistake –“She stopped herself as tears rolled down Lena’s face, wetting the pillow.

“Yes, you hurt me.” Lena whispered. “You broke my heart.”

“I know.” Kara breathed out, feeling her own tears spilling. She’d lost count on how many times she cried in the span of eight hours. She probably looked terrible.

“Here’s…” Alex trailed off, hand holding the water bottle suspended mid-air.

Lena turned her face once more and Kara rushed to wipe her own tears away.

“I’ll just leave this here.” Alex said awkwardly, setting the bottle next to Lena on the mattress and walking away in long strides.

Lena tried to sit up but her arms gave out.

“Lena!” Kara stretched her arms, hesitating. “May I…?”

“Please.” Lena whispered, holding on to Kara’s biceps and tightening her stomach muscles in order to sit up on the bed. Kara reached behind her, arranging her pillow as Lena grabbed the water bottle and stared down at it awkwardly.

“Do you want me to…?” The blonde gestured to the bottle and took it as her friend nodded, effortlessly turning the cap and giving it back.

Lena took a delicate sip and swallowed, then another. She sniffed, looking up at her friend through her eyelashes. Kara was looking at her with a mix of fear and pain.

“Do you hate me?”

“I tried to.” Lena’s lips pressed into a tight line. “But I…” She looked up to see Kara staring down at her feet. “I’m sorry.” Kara snapped her head up at that, clearly not expecting it. “You hurt me, that’s true. You lied to my face so many times, but I… I can’t say I haven’t lied to you or kept things from you; from supergirl, at least. And the way I reacted… people in my past hurting me are no excuse for what I did to you, and even if I tried to make myself believe it was for a noble reason, the truth was I wanted to hurt you. And I’m not proud at that. I’m trying to say we’re not perfect, and I regret not having this conversation sooner.”

“Me too.”

“So no, I don’t hate you.”

Kara pursed her lips, trying to contain a smile, but her eyes gave her away.

“So maybe there’s a chance for us to still be friends?”

“You still want to be my friend?” Lena shook her head incredulously, turning away. “You know, all the effort I put into steering away from my family name and look at me now.”

“You are not like them!” Kara said earnestly.

“Except, look at what my invention can do to people. Look at what I created working alongside my brother Lex Luthor.” Lena’s voice broke, tears spilling from the corners of her eyes. “All I ever wanted was to do good and I was so blinded by my own feelings, just like _him_.”

Kara moved forward, wrapping her arms around Lena’s back and hugging her tightly while she cried.

“I’m sorry I’m one of the people who’ve hurt you so much.” She whispered. “You… I think there could still be a chance for us to…” Kara was finding it hard to continue at hearing her friend’s sobs; they were making a hole inside her chest. “Us… w-working together, imagine what we could do…”

“Kara…” Lena sniffed, pulling her face away from her friend’s shoulder, looking down at the wet spot her tears had left there. Kara pulled away to look at her. “I… I need time.” She took a deep breath. “And I think… I need help.” She frowned.

To her surprise, Kara smiled. “You know there’s nothing wrong with that. I think you’re brave for wanting to take that step, it’s not an easy decision to make.” Lena still wasn’t meeting her eyes. “I thought about it as well…” That did the trick. “I’m actually not as brave as you are.”

“I…” Lena took a deep breath. “I feel… broken.” She whispered, looking away once more. “I don’t feel like myself at all… all my aspirations, my hopes for the future… I feel like they were there and suddenly there’s this... void.”

“Lena, I believe in you.” Kara took one of her hands in her own. “Maybe that’s of no use to you, but I need you to know that. And I hope you can forgive me and we can move past this at some point but… I –I think be both need time and it will actually be good… for us.”

Lena looked up at Kara, turning her hand over to squeeze hers. Some tears were still spilling down her cheeks and she noticed her friend’s eyes were red and puffy. Maybe she was hurting just the same. She couldn’t believe they had come to this, to hurt each other so much. There was a time when Kara was her support, when thinking about her only made her smile and feel hope. And she was tired of running away from the people in her life, especially when she knew how good they could be for each other when they were in a good place. She looked down at their joined hands. Things could never go back to the way they used to, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Maybe from the ashes, something new could rise; an honest friendship. But it was true, she needed time. They both needed time to figure out their feelings, to learn to trust each other again, to heal. She didn’t feel like she was in a good place at all, she felt adrift, confused, like she was following a path and somewhere she took a wrong turn and now, she was lost in the middle of the night.

“You’re right.” She nodded. “With time, maybe we could… try being friends again; with no lies, this time.”

Kara gave her a watery smile, her eyes a deep, hopeful blue. Her lower lip trembled and she rushed forward, hugging her again. “I’m so glad I haven’t lost you.” She whispered into her hair. Lena hugged her back tightly at last.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara and Lena face their feelings, with some help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mentions of William, but he's not in the chapter and I promise this is the last time he will be named :)
> 
> fyi, I have the drafts for at least five more chapters. Stay safe and wash your hands. Also don't touch your face!!

A month had passed since Lex Luthor’s arrest. Supergirl hadn’t had a second’s rest: public appearances, press conferences, capturing escaping DEO aliens, a meeting with the president and getting the DEO back to her sister’s command, a masked man committing crimes in the name of Lex, asking for his release and spitting all kind of conspiracy theories. People were having a hard time wrapping their minds around everything that had gone down. They knew people had gotten hurt, and aliens, and Supergirl, and Lena Luthor. She hadn’t made any public declarations or given any interviews, but many articles had been written about her and about L Corp. Story was repeating itself, the company’s name had been tarnished and people were wondering if Lena was the same alien-hating madwoman as they discovered her brother to be. Of course in this Earth everything was happening for the first time, but Lena was reliving it, and it probably felt like a recurring nightmare by now.

It was always at night, once she wound down from her crazy eighteen hour work-day that Kara thought about her. She wanted to know how she was, if she was physically okay, if she was emotionally okay, although she doubted that. Kara wanted to give her friend some space; it was what they had agreed on, after all, but a month, four weeks, thirty days felt like a lot. She was concerned, she wondered if Lena had actually started going to therapy, if her mind was working like it used to, if she still felt like their friendship could be mended, if all the media was saying about her affected her. Sometimes she wondered if she _should_ write and take the first step, if maybe her silence made her friend think she didn’t care. It was frustrating. Then there were the dreams. Dreams where Lena died in her arms at the hands of Reign, sometimes it was a repetition of the screams from that night, Lena twisting and turning on the floor, except Kara couldn’t move, she was rooted to the floor and her friend was screaming for help, for mercy, and Lex was laughing. But J’onn didn’t show up in time and Lena’s body became stiff, her screams died down and Kara couldn’t hear her heartbeat anymore. Sometimes, her dreams were about Alex: her sister in that slowly-filling tank and Kara getting there a second too late. Those nights she woke up in cold sweat, heart hammering in her chest and tears in her eyes.

Life had to go on, because the world kept turning and every day people needed saving and news needed to be told. Kara felt like an automaton, like she was in auto-pilot, just going through the motions. She hadn’t been able to face William after everything that happened with Lex; she had backed down from the story and didn’t have a proper explanation to give. She couldn’t possibly explain to him why it felt like a betrayal to Lena, her profiting from those events since the world had also put their eyes on her friend and questioned her real part in him kidnapping people and aliens and controlling their minds. Kara also didn’t have the strength to let him down easy and instead she found herself running away every time he walked into the same room. It was ridiculous, really. She didn’t understand why she had forced herself to go out with him, maybe it was because she felt guilty, he was after all a good person. Sure, he hadn’t respected her when she first told him no, but at least he had recognized it and apologized. But just because he was a nice guy, it didn’t mean she was attracted to him. When they had gone out, she hadn’t felt entirely comfortable, not because he was bad company, they had had fun, but the implications of a _date_ , physical contact and flirting, didn’t feel like something she wanted.

It was true that she felt lonely, that she needed someone in her life when she was home alone, when she went to bed after a long night, when she had good news to share, but she didn’t picture him in those scenarios, it just felt –off. Maybe it was a combination of those things and the people in her life pushing her in his direction that had made her re-think her decision, and now she had to go from a no to a yes to a no once again and he would probably think she was crazy. Still, there was no point in forcing something that just wasn’t there. There was no chemistry, no spark, nothing more than what she felt when she hung out with people like Nia, James, Winn or even Kelly. She liked him, she hoped they could remain friends, but she didn’t feel with the emotional capacity for a relationship at the moment, and even if she did, he just wasn’t right for her.

“Kara? Earth to Kara?” Nia was snapping her fingers in front of her eyes.

“Sorry, what?”

“I asked if you wanted to go to Alex’s with me. I just finished my report and was leaving in a minute.”

“Uh…” She looked around at the papers sprawled across her desk. She had no idea how long she had been lost in thought and staring into space. What had she been doing?

“You okay?” Nia cocked her head to the side, hand on her hip.

“Yeah… yes!” She perked up, rising suddenly from her chair and knocking it over. “I was just lost in thought.” She walked around her desk, grabbing her purse from a nearby chair.

“Hard article?” Nia asked as they started walking towards the elevator. Kara shook her head. “Then what were you thinking about?”

“Um… William.”

“Oh, I see.” Her friend smirked. Kara felt herself blush.

“Not like that! I mean, yes it was about that, but…”

“You never did go on a second date.” Nia realized with a frown.

“I know, it’s just…”

“Kara, you need a personal life! You’ll go crazy if all you do is think about others.”

“That’s just it!” She threw her hands up. It finally dawned on her. “I went out with him because I thought about everybody but myself! Alex was worried about me, I felt guilty for not having a good enough reason to say no to him, even Winn tried to convince me it was a good idea and I just…”

“Oh, that sucks.” Nia pursed her lips. “Those are not valid reasons to go out with someone. All you actually need is just, well… wanting to spend time with that person, get to know them better.”

“He’s nice.” She clarified. “We had a fun time, but… I just don’t feel that way about him.” She paused as they exited the elevator and walked out of the building. “At first I thought it was because I didn’t want to start a relationship based on lies, after what happened with Lena.” She felt a pang on her chest at the thought. “But then after our date, I thought about coming clean and… it just didn’t feel right. I don’t think I trust him enough for that anyway.”

“I get it.” Nia nodded. They walked into an alley and she held on to her friend, who took off and got them to Alex’s block in five seconds flat. “You know, after you rejected him and he came up with your coffee order, it just felt weird.” She scrunched up her nose.

“Yeah, he said he knew he was out of line and he apologized.”

“Still, I don’t like that he just couldn’t take no for an answer. It’s not right.” They looked at each other as they waited for Alex to open the door since her buzzer was broken –again. “I’m sorry I didn’t see that sooner.”

“Hey, you don’t have to apologize for anything. You did nothing wrong.” Kara squeezed her shoulder.

“I feel like I was blind to it and kinda encouraged you to go on that date as well.” She cringed. “I was distracted with what had happened to Yvette and with… you know…”

“Brainy?” Kara supplied tentatively.

“Yeah…” Nia looked down.

Just then the door opened and Alex ushered them in.

“Come in! Its movie night, what’s up with your faces?!” She was indeed much jollier than them.

“Nothing, just…”

“Boy stuff.” Nia supplied.

Kara grimaced, she really didn’t want to talk about all of that.

“Oh.” Alex scratched her neck.

“What’s up?” Kelly was sitting on the couch scrolling through her phone.

“Guy problem, so…” Alex made hand gestured that indicated her girlfriend should take it from there.

Nia looked at Kara apologetically, noticing her discomfort and that she had probably screwed up in saying anything.

“Something happened with William?” Kelly encouraged.

“Nothing, really…” Kara shrugged, sitting on the couch next to her friend.

“Exactly!” Alex exclaimed, raising her snacked-filled arms in the air as she came into the living room. “They went on _one_ date and then she ghosted him!”

Kara frowned.

“I didn’t…”

“I bet you’re actively avoiding him.” Her sister looked at Nia for confirmation, whom in turn looked at Kara with another apologizing look.

“We just… didn’t click.” She shrugged. “He’s nice and he’s fun, but…”

“There’s no spark?” Kelly provided and she nodded.

“And he can’t take no for an answer.” Nia trailed off almost to herself, rolling her eyes.

“What do you mean?” Kelly frowned.

“When he first asked me out, I said no. I mean, I _was_ considering it but, then I thought I didn’t want to start another relationship based on lies after what happened with Lena…” She felt another pang to her chest and wondered just _when_ it would start hurting less. “So I said no. Then he showed up one day with my exact coffee order, and then he texted me…”

“That’s…”

“Well, when you put it that way…” Alex frowned.

“Yeah, but he apologized. And then we talked,” She looked at her sister. “…and I thought, it’s just one date, right? He’s nice and I thought… then Winn had also told me to just give it a chance…” She made a face.

“Oh, sweet Kara.” Kelly reached over, stroking her arm. “Was it ever just you, feeling like you wanted to spend time with him?”

“I guess… not really.” She frowned. “Everyone was so worried about me, and I… I guess I just wanted to take my mind off from everything that was happening with Lex and –and Lena.” She looked away. Kelly’s hand hadn’t left her arm and she squeezed it gently. “But now he’s become another burden.”

“I’m sorry, Kara.” Alex frowned. “I thought it would be good for you, had I known…”

“It’s ok.” She tried to smile but wasn’t sure what her face was conveying at the moment.

“I’m sure he’ll understand.” Kelly nodded. “And it’s _yourself_ you’ve got to prioritize, honey. I know being the world’s superhero can make you forget that sometimes, but how will you take care of others if you don’t look out for yourself first?”

“I know, you’re right.” Kara squeezed her friend’s hand on her arm. “Thank you, really.”

“I noticed you were kind of distracted lately.” Alex added. “Maybe you should take some days off…”

“Yeah, you know I got Supergirl’s back.” Nia added, trying to brighten the mood.

“I don’t think being alone with my thoughts is such a great idea right now, my head’s… kinda messed up.” She didn’t know how movie night had suddenly turned into a group therapy session, or even why she was oversharing, but it was like opening an overstuffed box and stuff just kept spilling out. “I don’t even know why I’m saying this.” She pinched the bridge of her nose.

“What’s wrong?” Alex had stood up from the couch and crouched over in front of her, resting both hands on her knees.

Suddenly she felt overwhelmed; tears were starting to form and threatening to spill.

“I… after Lena almost… died, I –“She shook her head, looking up and wiping her eyes before the tears could come out. “I’m having these nightmares, and she’s dying, and you’re… drowning.” She sobbed.

“Oh, Kara.” Alex stretched up and hugged her. She could feel Nia and Kelly joining in on the hug after she couldn’t stop her sobbing.

“I’m just so w-worried, and tired, and my mind’s just –I feel like I can’t stop thinking about everything, even when I go to bed, all these things just keep replaying themselves inside my head.”

“What are you worried about, sweetie?” Kelly asked gently, stroking her hair behind her ear and away from her face. Alex’s face was also stained with tears.

“Just… people I care about getting hurt because of who I am. And…” She looked up at them, unsure. “Lena.” She whispered apprehensively. She knew Alex and Nia had mixed emotions about her, even if they tried to hide it.

“I thought you had made up that night?” Alex asked tentatively.

“We… sort of, I guess…” She shook her head. “We admitted we were both at fault and agreed that we both needed time, and maybe… we could rebuild our friendship, without lies this time.”

“That’s good.” Kelly provided, with a smile that urged her to go on.

“It’s just, she was hurt and I don’t know how she is, or if she’s recovered. She hasn’t contacted me yet, and I don’t know if I should write or give her space…”

“Look, I know it’s hard, but friendship is a two-way street. Maybe she’s asking herself the same thing. But, most importantly, you have to take care of yourself, and if you feel talking to her will help… well, there’s no harm in trying, right?”

“Your girlfriend’s so wise.” Kara joked to her sister with a lopsided smile. “Really, Kelly, thank you.” She turned her body so she could give her a proper hug. “You’re right, I should try to talk to her.”

The thought frightened her. What if Lena decided she couldn’t start their friendship over? Or that it wasn’t worth the effort? That night had been very emotional, maybe now she had changed her mind. Trying to kill someone could guilt you into saying things you don’t actually mean, surely. But on the other hand, maybe Lena found herself in the same predicament, wanting to talk to her but waiting for her to make the first move. Kara felt exhausted, she had never had a friendship so complicated, or any kind of relationship, really. Then again, she hadn’t had a best friend before. Her relationship with Lena was special, and even when she was scared of being rejected, she also missed her best friend, and there was no way they could mend things if they didn’t talk.

It was almost two am. After she had stopped crying, her sister and her friends decided she needed the distraction and chose a very cheese movie for them to watch, they all sat around her and after a while, she actually felt better. It had been good to let it all out, to talk about her nightmares, her concerns, to share her thoughts about Lena that kept her up at night and even to cry with people who cared about her and surrounded her with affection. They had stuffed themselves with snacks, Chinese food and apple pie, and by the time she left flying out the window, it was with a smile on her face. But now that she was home alone, in her bed and with her mind made up, Kara felt a kind of anxiety that made her chest tickle and her fingers tingle. She grabbed her phone from her nightstand and scrolled through her contacts until she found her. She still had Lena’s contact photo of their selfie, they were holding each other and smiling and Kara longed for those days. Taking a deep breath, she pressed for a new message.

_“Hi Lena, sorry about the time. I know we said to give each other space but I just wanted to know how you are. I hope I’m not overstepping.”_

She hit send before she could overthink it and chicken out, hiding her phone under her pillow and throwing the covers over her head. It took her a long while to fall asleep.

* * *

After taking off her heels and changing her office clothes for something more comfortable, Lena opened the refrigerator to find the leftover salad from the night before. She sat at the barstool and looked first at her phone, lying on the kitchen island next to her, and then to her other side where she could see a whiskey bottle inside a kitchen cabinet. She sighed, running her palms alongside her face and resting her chin on her hands, elbows on the table. It felt like those scenes where there was a devil and an angel on each shoulder.

It had been two weeks since her last drink, no scotch, no wine, no beer, nothing. She was trying this thing where she didn’t drown her feelings in alcohol until she forgot she even had them, trying to open those boxes inside boxes inside boxes, one by one, and facing one feeling at a time. There was a lot she had been hiding throughout the course of her life, ever since childhood, starting at age four, from the day she stood at that shore watching her mother die. She had been dragging a feeling of guilt since before she knew how to add and subtract, letting it dictate her life choices, her connection to other people and the way she valued herself. It was something that needed to change, she knew this even before her best friend’s betrayal and her brother’s manipulation, those things had led her to a breaking point, but building a tool that could have led to humanity’s total mind control at the hands of a sociopathic lunatic had been her tipping point. Screw her for being a genius and having her breakdown be the possible doom of humanity; for some people it was a trip to the ICU, but for her it was this. She had a big responsibility on her hands, and at her own choice, but she needed to learn to identify and control her emotions before they could take over and dictate her actions, because they could affect much more people than a regular person’s mistake. That was why she had started therapy, why she had distanced herself from the things that made her lose control, which she found were actually a lot, especially people, namely her friends and family. But it couldn’t last forever; she couldn’t live inside a bubble where nothing and no one could touch her.

There was someone she missed, someone she needed even though it has hard to admit, but it happened to be the same someone that had hurt her the most. She expected it from her own brother; it had happened before and therefore it was no surprise, she could expect it even from her own mother, but she had been blindsided this time, and the blow was the biggest she had experienced since the first time her brother had tried to kill her. She tried to convince herself that not everything could be a lie, surely Kara cared about her to some extent, there was a reason she had let Lena get close to her sister and her friends, it couldn’t all have been just to keep a close eye on her, but it was hard to believe. Why had she lied to her all this time? Why had she used her powers behind her back and let Lena believe she was this defenseless human she thought she had to protect? Why had she let Lena believe she could have been killed in that explosion or while they were aboard her jet?

Lena felt her hands shake, she pushed away her salad and walked into the living room before she could turn around and reach for that bottle of whiskey. She sat down on her couch, covering her face with her hands, taking deep breaths. Her therapist was right, she couldn’t keep asking herself all those questions over and over again, she needed answers in order to start healing. She needed the truth, once and for all. With trembling fingers, she got up and went back to the kitchen in search for her phone, staring at Kara’s text from three days before. She thought about asking her to come over right that instant, but what if Kara didn’t trust her enough and thought it could be a trap? That thought felt like a dagger to her chest. Just a month ago, that possibility wasn’t so far-fetched. She remembered all those simulations in which she hurt Kara and felt the tears spilling down her cheeks. She had to give herself a break, there was never any possibility that she could have done those things in real life, she had had those opportunities and it had never crossed her mind; she had actually defeated mind control and almost hurt her own brain so that she wouldn’t hurt Kara. She wasn’t _evil_ , she was traumatized; she didn’t excuse herself, but she had to be compassionate with her own soul.

_“Could we meet up? I think we should talk face to face. You choose the place.”_

There, non-threatening, polite, but also non-apologetic. She needed time to process and didn’t want to feel guilty for taking three days to respond.

She went back to the kitchen and resumed eating her salad, she was practicing taking care of herself and skipping a meal certainly wasn’t it. However, she almost choked on kale when her phone vibrated with a text, she didn’t expect a reply so soon.

_“Can I come over now?”_

Her heart jumped inside her chest, thumping hard. The response was unexpected, it had taken her two weeks to gather the courage to even think of facing Kara, and three days to respond to her when she initiated contact; she had just made up her mind and didn’t think Kara would want to meet so soon. That had to mean something, it had to mean she cared, otherwise she wouldn’t even bother to contact her, otherwise she wouldn’t have cried on her shoulder in that hospital bed.

_“Yes. I’m at home.”_

She took a deep, shaky breath. Now there was no way she could finish eating her salad. So Kara wasn’t thinking their meeting could be a trap, that was good; she also seemed to be waiting for her response, it had taken her only three minutes to reply. Her doorbell rang almost a minute later. Right, superpowers.

“Miss Luthor.” The security guard’s voice sounded through the intercom. “Miss Danvers is here to see you”

“Yes, please let her up.” She straightened her shirt, tucked her hair behind her ears and cleared her throat. She was nervous, and when she realized Kara could probably hear the mad thumping of her heart, she felt embarrassed.

There was a knock on the door and Lena took a deep breath as she turned the knob.

“Kara.” She said breathlessly.

“Hey.” Kara’s head was ducked, her lips were pressed and she was wriggling her hands.

Lena felt a little at ease realizing she was probably nervous too. Stepping aside, she let Kara through and watched her stand awkwardly in the middle of her living room.

“Um, are you okay?”

“You could say that.” Lena shrugged.

“How’s your head?”

“Oh, it’s fine. I had some headaches at first but now I’m good.” God it was awkward. She didn’t know what to say, all of her questions and reproaches had wiped away from her mind at the sight of her… friend? “I’m… glad you came.”

“I’m glad you answered.” She started to smile but her expression quickly changed. “Not that –I mean, I understand you need your time to –“

“Kara.” She stopped her flying hands mid-air. “Thank you, for understanding. And for coming here, really; you had reasons to suspect after last time.”

“That wasn’t you.” Kara took a step towards her, frowning. “I… I trust you.”

“You do.” Lena said flatly, feeling something twist inside her chest. She watched as Kara took a visible deep breath and dropped her arms to her sides, shoulders down.

“So…”

“Do you want something to drink?” She asked awkwardly. Keeping her emotions in check was a work in progress. Kara shook her head. “Let’s sit down, then.”

They moved towards the couch and sat with an extensive space in between them. Lena didn’t remember them being so awkward even at the first stages of their friendship, but she supposed it was normal after everything that had transpired.

“Kara, I –I do have so many questions…” Lena took a deep breath. “But, first I want to apologize for what I did at –at the fortress. Leaving you there… everything, really, was so wrong. I think about it and sometimes don’t even recognize myself. I was hurt and felt betrayed, but I was so deceiving that day, so cold and calculating…” She shook her head, frowning.

“I probably deserved that.”

“No, that’s not true. That place is so special to you, and you were so happy to bring me there…” She frowned. “I was just –I didn’t think any of it was real.”

“Lena, I know I should have told you the truth –“

“Then why didn’t you?”

“I was afraid.” Kara whispered. “I was selfish, I know, but… when we became so close, I thought about coming clean, many times. I was looking for the right moment, and then…” She looked down at her hands. “Everything with the kryptonite happened, and you were so angry with me, with supergirl… I told you before how kryptonite clouded my judgment, I couldn’t think it was you, all I could think about was someone else getting their hands on it and… I made many mistakes, I know that, and I know it was wrong of me to have deceived you. It was wrong of me to ask James to spy on you.” She shook her head. “I was selfish because I didn’t want to admit to those things, and also because… I didn’t want to lose you or have you hate me.”

“I felt so stupid when Lex showed me –” Lena wrung her hands together, nervously trying not to fall apart. “All those times I was with you and you used your powers behind my back…” She watched as Kara grimaced and hung her head once more. “When I thought… you were inside that exploding building… And that hologram you used to hack me…” Now she was the one looking down, feeling sad, embarrassed, angry.

“Oh Lena, I didn’t know about that.” She sounded anguished and truthful. “I swear, all those things I said were true, and I feel awful about all the times I lied to you, even… when we were on your jet, but… I –I have no excuse, and I don’t… I don’t want to minimize that, I was a terrible friend and I want to take responsibility for that.”

“You really meant that?” Lena looked at the through her dampened eyelashes.

“Yes! Please, you have to believe me!” Kara reached out for a second, letting her hand drop between them on the cushion. “Even after… those kryptonite canons… I still felt like I could save you, like… I could get through to you.”

“I didn’t know those canons were there, Kara… I stopped them. I thought I wanted to hurt you.” She grimaced. “But there was never a chance that I would actually… I mean, physically, at least.” They locked eyes. “But I know we actually did hurt each other.”

“I once promised you I would always protect you.” Kara whispered. “And I meant that. And I know I broke that promise by hurting you.”

“I guess we both made mistakes.” Lena gave her a lopsided, sad smile.

“Yeah…”

Lena could hear her intake of breath when she placed her hand atop of Kara’s.

“I’m tired of being angry.” She whispered. “I’m tired of staying away.”

“I miss you.” Kara confessed, turning her hand so she could hold onto Lena’s. “Lena, I swear, if you give our friendship a chance, I promise I won’t ever keep things from you.”

“I promise that too.” She squeezed. “And… if we don’t like something, we should talk things through before assuming anything.”

“I think that’s reasonable.” Kara smiled, even though there were stray tears on her cheeks.

“I miss you, too.” She scooted forward and they met in the middle, wrapping their arms around each other. “I’m trying this new thing where I talk about my feelings…” She said into Kara’s hair. “So we could implement that.”

“So you did start seeing a therapist?” Kara asked once they pulled away, using her index fingers to wipe the tears under her eyes.

“I have. She’s been helpful.”

“I’m glad. I was worried… with everything they were saying on the news, I mean, on top of everything else.” Kara ducked her head trying to meet Lena’s eyes, trying to figure out her emotions.

“I’m used to it.” Lena shrugged one shoulder. “I’m trying not to let it get to me, but it’s not easy. Although trying once again to save L Corp after my brother’s disaster is keeping me fairly busy.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Sometimes it feels like traveling through time.”

“I’m really sorry.” Kara placed one hand on her shoulder supportively. “I’m sorry you have to relive all that.”

“Oh.” Lena straightened her back, expression turning serious. “Kara, I’m sorry, I heard about your father.”

“Oh, yeah.” She grimaced, dropping her hand from Lena’s shoulder.

“I heard it from Brainy just last week. Had I known…”

“It’s ok, you couldn’t have known.” She shook her head, looking down.

“Still, I’m really sorry. How are you holding up?” Lena took Kara’s hand in between both of her own. Kara smiled.

“I’m okay. It was harder on Alex, but we’re healing.”

“Well, I wish things had been different between us and that I could have been there for you, but I’m here now if… if you ever need to talk. I can’t promise any sound advice.” She chuckled. “But I’m a good listener.” She almost lost her breath with the force of Kara’s hug. It was easy to forget she had super-strength, she was hugging her so tightly but in no way hurting her.

“I’m glad I have you now.” Kara whispered against her shoulder.

“Me too.” Once again Lena found herself thinking of the audible thumping of her heart.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena and Kara have their first ordinary and totally platonic friend date in a long while. More feelings discussion, revelations (yes, still. so many secrets, ugh.) and touching of course!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suck at summaries, sorry about that. Shocking, there is some plot. Also I am not a scientist or doctor or business woman so have mercy on me.  
> Please, be safe and stay home if you can. I hope you can.

Lena sighed, resting her forearms on her desk as she listened to her seven pm appointment rant on and on about his company’s statistics in investment, stock market, showing her charts about this and that, all sort of things that were currently flying over her head. Who even made presentations on paper anymore? She had been reluctant to accept a meeting with Mr. Dunst, but had agreed due to peer pressure from the company’s board of directors, and with reason: there were not many people willing to associate their name with the Luthors after Mr. Day’s article uncovering the wide network of government corruption and alien slave market trading that had been money-laundered through some of L Corp’s accounts. Although the company had surrendered all information pertaining the illegal activities to the authorities, fired all those involved and donated enormous amounts of money to alien relief funds and charities, the damage had been done, and there were some things you just couldn’t erase from people’s memories, at least not in the short term.

Not being one who could be idle while wallowing in her misery, Lena had devoted herself to taking apart her research in Non Nocere’s technology to find in it a use for the good of humanity. After weeks of dedication, she had finally found it, a theoretical way to reconnect neural circuits in the brain that could potentially cure various forms of neurodegenerative diseases and mental disorders by repairing neurotransmitters during their binding process. But to further advance in her research safely and successfully move forward to the human trials face in the future, she needed investors who could financially support a team of scientists along with the obtaining of technology she could no longer acquire from obsidian tech after their unfortunate downfall. That’s how she found herself listening to this petulant Wall Street Wolf wannabe and his statistical bragging. Mr. Dunst looked and talked like an average NYU graduate, but Lena had briefly skimmed through his company’s finances and it was all she needed to have reasonable suspicions on the origins of his money. Besides, she had agreed to meet with Kara for dinner, and as the minutes ticked by, she found herself more and more distracted by the fact that she would probably be late.

“Mr. Dunst.” She interrupted his rambling. “I think I had a wide enough outlook on your company’s financial history, and let me tell you how much I appreciate –“

“Yes, but if you’d only let me finish explaining this chart, as you can see –“

Lena sighed once more. He seemed pretty nervous, now that she had started paying attention. A drop of sweat was rolling down his temple, his right leg was bouncing and he kept glancing to his left every few seconds. Being familiar with suspicious behavior and terribly accustomed to threats on her life, Lena couldn’t help her heart jumping inside her chest with paranoid fear. What if he was actually sent by someone to spy on her? Or worse, what if he was a decoy for someone else to show up at a second’s notice?

Just then she heard a swoosh coming from her right, by the open doors, and a thud as boots landed softly on her balcony. Smiling discreetly, Lena turned to see Supergirl, cape wavering with the soft wind.

“Miss Luthor.” Kara greeted, signature hands-on-hips pose while she entered her office.

“Supergirl!” Lena stood from her chair. She didn’t have to feign surprise, she didn’t actually expect her to show up like that. It was like she had read her mind.

Mr. Dunst had also risen from his chair, nervously trying to smash all at once his spreadsheets and notes into his briefcase. Some fell on the floor and he bent over to pick them up.

“Sorry to interrupt, but we did have an appointment at eight o’clock.” Kara smiled.

“Yes.” Lena nodded, looking at her watch that effectively marked a quarter past eight. “I’m sorry, Mr. Dunst.” She looked at him then with a polite fake smile. “Looks like we need to cut our meeting short.”

“I –It’s no problem. Ms. Luthor. S-supergirl.” He nodded at them both in turn. “I should –” He gestured towards the door. “G-get g-going.”

“It was a pleasure to meet you.” Lena lied, walking around her desk and stretching her hand for him to shake. His was clammy and a little shaky as she took it. Perhaps he wasn’t a threat as much as he was intimidated by powerful women.

She watched him scramble out of her office and smiled towards her friend, who was looking at her with a warm smile of her own.

“Sorry.” Kara said sheepishly, her heroine persona completely turned off as one of her hands came up to scratch the back of her neck. “I was waiting for you at the entrance and you were late so I… well, I trained my hearing and kind of thought you were… scared?”

Lena raised her eyebrows in surprise. She had often wondered if Kara could hear the changes to her heartbeat and guessed this was a sort of confirmation.

“I…” She felt herself blush. Now that she had seen how insecure and nervous Mr. Dunst was, she felt stupid to think he could be a threat. “Yes, you’re right. It’s stupid, really…”

Kara walked towards her until they were eye to eye.

“You okay?” She asked as she ducked her head to meet her friend’s eyes.

“I am.” Lena shook her head. “He just… seemed suspicious for a moment, and…”

“I get it.” Kara smiled. “There are only so many attempts on one’s life before you start suspecting everybody, right?”

“Right.” She agreed, Kara’s warm smile putting her at ease and allowing her to accept her fears weren’t totally irrational. “Thank you.”

“Hey, anytime.” Kara shrugged. “Did he say anything weird?” Lena shook her head. “I can research him a little, if you want.”

“No, it’s okay. He was just nervous and seemed a little suspicious for a moment.”

“I can always ask Alex to do a little background check.”

“Oh, I didn’t…” Lena scrunched her eyebrows together. “I don’t think I’m in her nice people list at the moment, right?”

“What? No.” Kara smiled awkwardly, swatting her hand and making a face.

“Kara, it’s okay. I get it, really.”

“She’ll come around.” She tried to smile reassuringly, dropping her shoulders.

“Sure.” Lena trailed off awkwardly. She had never been good at keeping friends anyway.

“So are you ready to go?” Kara changed the subject. “I mean, if you’re tired or have work to do, we can always –“

“I actually can’t wait to leave this office.” Lena interrupted, nonchalantly trying to ease her friend’s flourishing insecurity. “Just let me grab my things and we can go.”

“Sure.” Kara grinned, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “I know we said to try that new Cambodian place but, you know, _it is_ in National’s City hot spot, so…”

“There may be paparazzi lurking by?” Lena finished, turning off her computed and storing some folders in her bag to read at home. 

“I know of some _journalists_ , if you could call them that, that look for gossip column material over there.” She scowled. “I’m sorry I didn’t think about it sooner.”

“Kara.” Lena sighed. “It’s not your fault I’m media’s favorite punch bag at the moment.” She actually laughed at her friend’s grimace. “Really, how about… we order in?”

Kara seemed to brighten at that.

“Wanna go to my house and watch The Good Place?”

Lena stopped her purse half-way to her shoulder. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had asked her to something as mundane as getting together to watch a TV show. She couldn’t remember the last time a conversation had flowed so easily between them, so casually. Her chest warmed at the thought.

“I would love to, actually.” She smiled.

“Great!” Kara almost squealed, clapping her hands together. “Uh, I should probably...” She gestured towards the balcony. “Meet you down there.”

“Right.” Lena nodded. There was no way she could explain Kara’s presence to her secretary who hadn’t seen her walk through the door. She certainly couldn’t know Kara had flown in through the window.

They met at the building entrance and the driver stopped by the aforementioned restaurant so they didn’t miss out on trying the food they had been talking about throughout the week. Lena waited patiently inside the car while Kara picked their order up and dismissed her driver once they arrived to Kara’s place. She didn’t want to have him wait on her, she could take a cab to go back home.

Just as they were arranging everything on the coffee table so they could eat and watch TV at the same time, Kara perked up and turned her head to the side.

“Is there something wrong?”

“I…” Kara grimaced, looking at her friend and having a visible debate in her mind. “I have to –” She gestured towards the window. “There’s a robbery.”

“Go, I’ll wait.” Lena dropped down on the couch as Supergirl flied out.

As the minutes ticked by she found herself thinking about all the times they had had dinner together and Kara made some flimsy excuse to leave. Those were probably super heroine emergencies she had to lie about in order to get away. Lena had started to slowly let go of the resentment those thoughts used to bring her, and lately found herself thinking about all the times Kara had saved her life instead. Now that she knew the truth, it was with some sort of awe that she put together the times Supergirl had been there for her, saving her life, then being her emotional support as Kara Danvers, her friend, who brought dinner when she knew Lena was down, who always had words of comfort and tight hugs, who always seemed to know just what she needed to feel at least a little bit better.

Now that Lena could also see all the ways in which her brother had manipulated her, she was trying to pull away the curtain of resentment and shame he had put on her memories with her best friend. It was simply not true that Kara had pretended to be her friend just to keep an eye on her, or that she had used her just to get a story and boost her career. She realized it only benefited Lex when the two of them were at odds with each other, just like he used to be with Superman, and that he had used that to his advantage. When she had investigated him with Supergirl, they had been an incredible team, they had worked so well together many times at the DEO as well and Lena had felt _good_ , like she was doing something useful and saving people, but also good with herself. That outweighed everything bad her brother had tried, and sometimes even succeeded, in making her believe. When they worked together, they could do remarkable things.

She heard the familiar thud of boots hitting the floor and turned around with a small smile.

“Everything ok?”

“Yeah.” Kara took a deep breath as her suit disappeared and was replaced with her normal clothes. “Just a regular old market theft; I let the police take charge after I got rid of the gun. You okay?” She was eyeing her curiously and a little apprehensively, Lena wasn’t sure why.

“Yes, of course. Do you want to heat this up?” She gestured to the food.

“Yeah, let me just…” She headed towards the kitchen to wash her hands. “Do you mind if I…” She lowered her glasses. It took a few seconds for Lena to understand.

“Oh, right. Go ahead.”

Kara smiled sheepishly, setting her glasses aside on the coffee table and using her heat vision to warm up the food.

“Neat trick.” Lena joked.

“Really?” Kara eyed her sideways, head ducked. Lena giggled uncharacteristically while nodding and that made a wide grin form on her friends face. “I could also get you an ice cold glass of wine?”

“Just water is fine.”

Kara seemed to notice the seriousness of her response but just nodded, getting up and heading to the kitchen once more to fetch them both a glass of water.

Instead of turning the TV on, they found themselves talking about Kara’s work at CatCo, then everything that had happened with the DEO after Alex had been named director and how they were still investigating the missing weapons case that resulted from the thorough inventory they had organized after Lex was gone.

“That sounds dangerous.” Lena frowned. “Do you actually know which weapons are missing?”

“Well nothing too dangerous, mostly guns and some human tech but luckily no alien guns or technology that we could tell, so we’re hoping that whoever took it did it just to get some money out of it.”

“So no actual potential threats to humanity?” Kara shook her head. “How about something that could, you know… hurt you?”

“Well, not to brag but… there aren’t lots of things that can hurt me.” Kara smiled. “It’s still important, though, so they’re looking into it.”

“Right…” Lena looked down at her hands.

“Hey, what’s up?” Kara ducked her head, trying to meet her eyes.

“Nothing.” Lena smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

“I think we said something about talking about our feelings?” She said softly. “Not to put pressure on you…” Lena did meet her eyes then.

“It’s true, you’re right.” She exhaled. “I just… remembered that day... at the fortress” Kara pressed her lips together, reaching out and taking Lena’s hand.

“You can’t beat yourself up about that forever.”

“I know, and… I’m putting it into practice, truly, I am.” She turned her hand so she could hold Kara’s. “But I’m scared about… the person I became.” She took a deep breath. “The things I did, and… what I could have done.”

“You know, you and I, we both have the power to do great things.” Kara met her eyes and smiled. “Sure, I have superpowers, but you… with your intelligence, you can also do more than most people.” Lena nodded in agreement. “What matters is what we choose to do with that power. And from what I’ve seen, you’ve done so many good things, you stopped our planet from being invaded, and biomax, medusa…” She enumerated with her fingers. “You saved the world, too.”

Lena chuckled, only Kara could turn a 180 in her view of herself with just a few words.

“That’s true. It’s just… guilt is something I’ve been carrying around for a long time.” She smiled sadly. “Old habits die hard.”

“I know how you feel.” Kara nodded, looking down. “Being one of the few survivors of your species can do that to you as well.”

Their eyes met. Lena hadn’t actually thought about it that way.

“My parents picked me, you know? They put me inside a ship as our world was burning…” She trailed off for a moment, gathering strength with a deep breath. “The ship took off and I left them behind. I left everybody I knew behind.”

“Kara, I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok, I… I’ve learned to push that guilt aside as well. But being here and having all this responsibility, sometimes I have to make hard choices and…” She shrugged. “A little mistake on my part can cause a lot of damage.”

“But you do so much good, Kara.” Lena squeezed her hand, smiling a little as she used the same words, and just then they both realized just how alike they were. “Your mistakes don’t outweigh all the good you’ve done, just like mine don’t. I promise.”

Kara locked eyes with Lena and felt a lump on her throat, which she tried to swallow down.

“You think so?” She whispered.

“I’m sure about it.” Lena stated. She smiled softly as a tear rolled down her friend’s cheek and reached out to wipe it off. She’d never put her glasses back on, she realized.

Kara frowned, taking a deep breath.

“There’s one more thing I want to tell you.”

“Anything.” Lena nodded.

“While everything was happening, when we were… apart.” She grimaced. “I was investigating your bother along with William Day.” Kara watched with fear as Lena’s face fell. “I never got to know anything about the alien slave markets or anything about money laundering, but… after…” She took another deep shaky breath.

“I’m listening.” Lena whispered.

“After you got hurt, when the FBI discovered what had happened with those kidnapped people… I told him I couldn’t keep digging, because… Well, I didn’t want to hurt you.” Lena nodded, looking down at their joined hands. She hadn’t pulled away. “I knew people would start questioning you, and it wasn’t something I could stop but… I didn’t want to have any part in it.”

“I’m sure Mr. Day had lots of recognition for writing that piece.” Lena murmured.

“Probably.” Kara shrugged.

“So you just… threw away your work?” She frowned. Kara shrugged once more.

“Are you angry with me?”

“I’m… surprised.” Lena muttered. “You could have kept it from me and I wouldn’t have known.”

“I don’t want secrets between us.”

“That’s…” She trailed off, lost in thought for a moment. “You… really care.” She realized.

“I didn’t want to be in that list of people who hurt you anymore.” Kara frowned, tilting her head as she tried to gauge the emotions dancing behind her friend’s eyes. “And I don’t want to be in the list of people who lie to you, either.” She was surprised when Lena smiled.

“Thank you, Kara, for telling me. I’m not angry, you didn’t actually publish anything and I know you couldn’t have stopped your collage from doing so.”

“I did tell him you would never have sold aliens as slaves on the black market.”

“I wouldn’t.” Lena shook her head. “But I suppose he had a right to be reasonably suspicious.” She chuckled when Kara rolled her eyes. “Thank you for not giving up on me, even when everyone else did.”

“I didn’t do it out of some sense of obligation.” She said in all seriousness. “I really do believe in you.”

“Stop.” Lena chuckled, covering her face with one hand. “You’re gonna make me cry.”

“Sorry.” Kara smiled sheepishly.

They were silent for a moment, both staring down at their joined hands that were now resting on Kara’s knee.

“Can I ask you something?” Lena whispered.

“Anything.”

“Do you… remember when Morgan Edge tried to poison me? I was with you and James in my office…” Kara nodded. “I kept having this dream, after…” Lena frowned. “You were carrying me, we were flying, but you were… You know, you. Not Supergirl.”

“Yeah.”

“Was… was that real?”

“I did fly us to the DEO. It all happened so fast I didn’t even change into my suit.” Kara recalled.

“But… someone could have seen us, you, your… secret identity.” Lena frowned, almost whispering the last part even though they were alone.

“Lena.” Kara raised her eyebrows in surprise. “I thought you were going to _die_! I didn’t think about _that_!”

“So you risked your identity. To save me.” She whispered in awe.

“I would do it again if I had to.” Of course it would be hard to explain she _had_ actually done it, in a parallel universe.

“You know… I really never did have a friend like you before.” Lena smiled. “And I’m glad we got through this. I mean, if we could forgive each other after… everything…”

“You know Supergirl’s motto?” Kara smiled softly. “Stronger together…”

“…weaker apart.” Lena finished. It did resonate with them. They looked at each other.

“So.” Kara chuckled. “Now that we’ve had our regular quota of tears…” She used both hands to wipe under her eyes. “How about we finish this meal? I’m all hungry all over again.”

“Of course. It’s actually really good.”

“I know, right?” Kara clapped her hands.

They finished eating in comfortable silence. Lena kept glancing at Kara, who hadn’t put her glasses back on, and it occurred to her it was the first time they had been together so honestly, talking about their feelings and not hiding anything. It felt good and familiar, but also… different. They were not the same people who had become friends, reluctantly on her part, many years ago. They had been through so much, both as individuals and as friends, and she wondered if it would have worked out, had she known before about Kara’s secret. A few years back, she could have never forgiven Kara had she told her the truth. Betrayal did horrible things to her, it was no secret. It had taken a lot of effort and personal growth for Lena to get to where she was now, and she had a long way to go still. But, had she known before, she wouldn’t have been able to deal; she had barely managed to when the truth did finally come out. It was one more thing that she resented her brother for: he had robbed them of the opportunity of dealing with their issues on their own terms.

“So how’s everything going around L Corp?” Kara asked as she piled the empty food containers, taking Lena out of her musings.

“Not so good.” Lena sighed, leaning back on the couch and stretching her legs. “Stocks are low after everything Lex did and after that article came out.”

“Right.” Kara blushed, grimacing as she took the trash to the kitchen. “That was… unfortunate.”

“You could say that.” Lena chuckled. “We had lost associates after Lex was arrested, and the article felt like the last nail on the coffin. But, you know how business works. We just had to work with what we had, and I wasn’t going to give up.”

“That’s admirable.” Kara smiled, sitting back on the couch with one leg tucked underneath her.

“I actually dove into work for a while, you know me.” She smiled ruefully. “And I did make some advancements, that’s why I had that meeting earlier.”

“With the sweaty guy?” Kara joked.

“Yep, that one.” Lena smiled. “We’re looking for investors so that we can improve our laboratory and also hire leading scientists and neurologists from Switzerland who are working on a cure for neurodegenerative diseases.”

“That sounds pretty amazing and important.”

“It could be. But it’s also really complicated, and it’s not being easy finding people who are willing to being associated with the Luthor name.”

“That just sucks.” Kara pouted and actually made Lena giggle. “But you’ve been through this before, which also sucks, by the way.”

“It really does.” Lena laughed.

“I’m trying to say, I’m sure people’s perceptions will change eventually, just like it happened before.”

“I hope you’re right. We’re also participating in a charity event for Alzheimer and Parkinson in a few weeks, so that might help.”

“Sounds good.” Kara encouraged.

“And also terrifying.” Lena half-joked.

“Why’s that?”

“It will be my first public appearance after everything that happened with Lex. I don’t want to attract attention for the wrong reasons but it is also kind of inevitable.” She shrugged. “And besides, I can’t keep hiding forever.”

“Should you need any emotional support...” Kara gestured down at herself with a smile.

“Oh, I couldn’t ask you that.” Lena frowned.

“Why not? That’s what friends are for, right?” She smirked. “And you know free food is never an inconvenience for me.”

“Are you being serious?”

“Yes.” Kara said solemnly, all joking gone. Lena stared at her for a minute.

“Then… I think it would really help if you were there.” Lena looked into her eyes, as if trying to find any trace of doubt or unwillingness.

“Great!” Kara grinned, sitting straighter and clapping a few times. “Free food!” She cheered.

“You are crazy.” Lena laughed, shaking her head. She had known for a while that everything was better with Kara by her side, but until she had lost her, she hadn’t realized just how much.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara goes to L Corp's fundraiser as Lena's emotional support. But first, she sets the record straight with Alex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's totally platonic you guys. Lots of free time on my hands so here's an update. Your comments are so nice, I feel loved.

Kara didn’t swear, but if she did, she thought now would be a very appropriate time. She usually didn’t complain about doing her superheroine job, less when it involved petty crime and bank robberies instead of sophisticatedly crafted plans to take over Earth or an alien invasion. She preferred the petty crimes, they were a lot easier to deal with and less of a threat to the whole of humanity. But on this particular day, or afternoon by now, she wished criminals would just take the day off and instead, it seemed all the thieves and violent citizens of National City had conspired to commit illegal acts. Since morning she had had to put out a fire and rescue ten people out of the building, stop three robberies, send a violent man to jail for trying to kill his girlfriend and stop an actual kidnapping! She had barely had time to eat and go to the bathroom, not to mention she had to make up some excuse as to why she couldn’t show up to a very important interview she had scheduled two weeks ago. Now, flying back from stopping a garbage truck from crashing into a bus full of elders coming back from an excursion, she remembered Nia’s offer and texted her to ask if she could take over city-saving duties for the night.

Once home, Kara headed for the shower to wash away the stink from the pile of trash that had landed on her head. Luckily, she had already picked her dress the day before and only needed to apply a little makeup, which she always found the hardest part of going to formal events. She didn’t want to look like a clown but also wanted to look like she had made an effort in looking elegant and classy.

Just as she was applying her lipstick, the doorbell rang and made her jump and almost stick the lipstick up her nose. It couldn’t be Lena, her driver would pick her up in an hour.

“Hello?”

“Kara!” Alex voice sounded through the intercom. “Open up!”

“Shoot.” Kara murmured under her breath. “Uh, okay sure.” She answered as she pressed a button to buzz the door open.

Of all the days her sister could pick for an impromptu visit she had to choose today! The day she was going to this important event Alex didn’t know anything about and that she had been purposely hiding from! Kara sighed, she had to discuss this with her sister at some point. Lena was her friend and she would continue to be and Alex just had to deal with her issues and not impose her feelings on Kara.

She walked to the door when she heard the knock and took a deep breath as she opened it.

“Hey!” Alex grinned, walking inside the apartment with beer bottles inside a grocery bag. “I called you to say I was coming over but you didn’t –“She stopped once she realized how sophisticated her sister looked with her hair up and elegant makeup. “Uh, you going out?”

“Yep.” Kara pressed her lips together awkwardly, rocking back on her heels.

“You didn’t tell me…” She trailed off with a frown. “Do you have a date?!” Now she was indignant.

“No!” Kara blushed, she wasn’t sure why.

“Okay…” Alex was confused, setting her groceries on the table as she waited for her sister to go on.

“I’m going to a fundraiser.” Kara walked away from her sister to stand in front of the bathroom mirror so she could finish applying her lipstick. She didn’t want to be late. “With Lena.”

“A fundraiser? Really?” Alex crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“Yes, as a friendly supporter. It’s her first public appearance since, you know…” She grimaced.

“Oh, I see.” She replied curtly.

“I knew you’d be like this.” Kara walked out of the bathroom annoyed, making her sister step back so she could get through.

“What? I didn’t say anything!”

“But I know what you’re thinking.” She rolled her eyes as she stuffed the lipstick angrily inside her makeup bag.

“Oh so you read minds now.” Kara scoffed. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry!” Alex put her hands up. “You’re right! I’m not entirely comfortable with you going out there with Lena.”

“Alex…” Kara sighed. “I told you –“

“She’s changed? I know, but forgive me for having my doubts! She lied to us before, it was so calculating…”

“I know, but she apologized. And we also lied to her, many times.”

“Well, that’s different.” Alex frowned. “Look, I get that you forgave her but I’m having a harder time trusting her.”

“Whatever.” Kara rolled her eyes, walking away to fetch her dress from her wardrobe.

“She left you trapped and crying at the fortress of solitude, Kara. I had to find you there looking so heartbroken.” Alex frowned, following her sister across the apartment.

“Look.” Kara turned around. “Lena and I had our issues; we both made mistakes, lied to each other and got hurt. We talked about it several times and forgave each other. If you,” She pointed angrily at her. “Have unresolved issues with her, maybe _you_ should do the same.” She walked into her bedroom. “She was supposed to be your friend, too.”

Alex stared at the empty doorway for a second, mouth agape and stunned.

“I’m scared, Kara, ok?” She walked inside to find her sister zipping up an elegant knee length blue dress. “I don’t want you to get hurt, and last time you two fought… I don’t think I ever saw you like that, except… when Mon-El left.”

Kara dropped her shoulders, sighing.

“I get it.” She nodded. “I’m thankful that you worry about me.” She stretched her arms, squeezing both her sisters’ shoulders gently. “But I promise, Lena’s not evil.”

“I don’t understand how you can have so much unwavering faith in her, you… I don’t know if I can trust your judgment entirely when it comes to Lena. You care too much.”

Kara let go of her shoulders, dropping her head in defeat.

“That’s just insulting.” She muttered as she reached down for her shoes. Alex followed her to the bed and sat down beside her.

“It’s just… even after everything she did, you weren’t able to see she could actually be dangerous.” Alex ran her hands through her hair. “Then you dropped this huge story you had been working on for _months_ …” She shook her head.

“She would never have forgiven me if I published that.” Kara frowned, looking down.

She didn’t think her sister was wright in her views about Lena, but it was the first time she found herself thinking about her behavior while Lena was working with Lex. It was true she had been blind at first about the real possibility that Lena was working with her brother, and that nothing good could come out of that man. And even after she had confronted her after her whole deal with Myx, Kara had never actively sought to stop whatever Lena was involved in doing, her project Lex later used against her. From the looks of it, it had been something dangerous. But she knew Lena was hurting and probably being manipulated, and that she could never actually hurt anyone. She had said she would treat her just like any other villain, but she never actually did. Even more so, in the alternate universe where Lena was evil and tried to kill her, she had almost let her. So her sister had a point in that she had a soft, almost blind spot for Lena. But this time wasn’t like the last.

“That article could win William a Pulitzer award.”

“I already have a Pulitzer.” Kara scoffed, bending down to slip on her shoes.

“Not on this Earth!” Alex jumped to her feet.

“Do you even listen to yourself?” Kara was really getting angry now. “I thought Lena was, or at least had been, your friend! What are your priorities?” She walked away once more.

“Kara, wait!” Alex followed. “I’m sorry, you’re right! I’m an idiot. I know a friendship is more important than an award.”

Kara stared at her, licking her teeth in annoyance and crossing her arms in front of her.

“It’s just…” She sighed.

“Do you remember when we saw that footage and thought Lena was working with Cadmus? And how I was the _only one_ to believe in her, and I was _right_?” She put her hands on her hips, looking at her sister disapprovingly. “This is just like that time. Lena’s been betrayed by her family, by her _friends_ … and now people who don’t even know her are constantly judging her. But _I_ know her, she’s my friend, and she’s _good_.” Her voice waivered at the end, she felt flustered, some emotion swirling around her chest and making her eyes sting with tears.

“Okay, Kara.” Alex looked down, pressing her lips together and frowning. “I trust your gut.” She nodded. “I promise, I will make an effort and I’ll try to give Lena a second chance.”

Kara nodded, looking up so the tears wouldn’t fall and ruin her makeup and taking a deep breath.

“I’m not giving her a blank check, though.”

“Be your own judge.” Kara shrugged. “But she did fight off mind control and almost died in order not to hurt me.”

“Yes, I know.” Alex reached for her and wrapped her in a hug. “Don’t be upset, please. I’m sorry.” Kara hugged her back tightly.

“It’s okay.”

“You look beautiful, by the way.” Alex said once they pulled away. “Who knows? Maybe you will walk out of there with a hot date.”

Kara rolled her eyes with a smile, grabbing her phone from the table and looking at the time. She still had fifteen minutes.

“I just hope there won’t be any overzealous reporters who will try to twist things.”

“What do you mean?” Alex frowned.

“I already heard people over at CatCo who think L Corp is only doing this to clean its image.”

“And they aren’t? At least partially?”

“Lena is working on an incredibly important project.” Kara glared at her sister who put her hands up in surrender. “If things go right, millions of people’s lives could drastically change for the better.”

“Sounds impressive.” Alex conceded, grabbing her grocery bag. “Well, you go do your protective best friend job.” She hugged her sister once more. “And I will go Netflix and chill with my girlfriend.”

“Gross.” Kara muttered to her sister as she walked towards the door.

“God, mind out of the gutter!” Alex exclaimed with a grin, closing the door behind her.

Kara leaned back against the table with a deep sigh, if she could get headaches she would be experiencing one right then. She felt silly for almost breaking down before while defending Lena, she was supposed to be the strong one today, not a cry baby. It just felt so unfair, how quick everyone was to judge Lena, even Alex who was supposed to be her friend and who was supposed to know her. She had seen the state Lena had been left in after the night they had captured Lex Luthor, and she still had a hard time trusting that their friend was good. It was no wonder other people’s perceptions could be so easily manipulated with some shady facts and reasonable suspicion. She was angry and felt powerless, which she hated. She was supposed to be the strong superheroine, she was supposed to be able to fix things, but this wasn’t something that could be resolved with super powers or a powerful speech. She believed in Lena and knew she would be able to make people see, once more, that she was different than her brother, that she was _good_. She just hoped it would be soon, because she hated Lena feeling sad, which she was, even if she pretended she wasn’t. She was nervous about tonight because part of her company’s future depended on people’s judgment, even if she personally didn’t care about what they thought. Kara knew she would be there for her as many times as needed, and help her feel better as much as she could.

She loved when they spent time together being carefree, eating a lot and laughing. Lena could be pretty funny when she was in a good mood, she had an acid humor sometimes but Kara loved it. Lena also knew more about pop culture than people gave her credit for. But now she was burdened with trauma, so many negative emotions and outside judgment, that it was hard for her to let go and be carefree. Kara couldn’t wait until she could invite her to game nights once again, she missed her perfect partner. She hoped that, with time, things would work out and they could all get together, just like old times but better, with no secrets now.

She found herself smiling goofily, staring at the photo she had finally taken out of her drawer, framed, and now rested on her library. Just then her phone buzzed with a message from Lena letting her know her driver was at her door. She grabbed her purse and answered the message quickly as she exited her apartment and super-speeded down the stairs.

Once they arrived at the hotel, she headed for the front doors but Lena’s driver stopped her.

“Through the service door, please Miss Danvers. Miss Luthor is waiting for you there.”

“Okay…” She trailed off with a frown; it seemed odd to imagine Lena walking in through there and not the main entrance. She rang on a doorbell and the door immediately buzzed, letting her in.

There were a few elegant looking people all standing in a circle and discussing animatedly. Lena was among them and turned around with a big smile as she saw her friend.

“Excuse me.” She announced, walking towards Kara and giving her a quick one-armed hug. “Kara, hi! I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Hey.” Kara grinned back. Lena was wearing an elegant red one shoulder drop dress, and she looked striking. “You look so beautiful.” She blurted out.

“Thank you.” Lena actually blushed. “You also look great, I love the color.”

“Alex says blue is my color.” Kara shrugged, ducking her head. They locked eyes and giggled.

Once Lena introduced her to the members of the charities that had organized the fundraiser along with L Corp, she showed Kara to the main room, a big meeting room that was being prepared by the catering staff to receive the five hundred or so people who would be arriving any minute now.

“So, how are you?” Kara asked once they had managed to steal some appetizers and sneak away to the back of the stage, where a few people would be giving speeches throughout the night.

“Pretty nervous, to be honest.” Kara grimaced around a mouthful of shrimp and it actually made Lena smile. “Thank you for coming Kara, really, it means a lot.”

“Tolf you.” She swallowed. “I never miss out on free food.” She joked. “Do you have to give out interviews?”

“First I have to welcome everyone and explain the details of my investigation and how the founding would help develop the equipment we need. Then I suppose some journalist will approach me, but it’s not a press conference or anything.”

“Right.” Kara nodded. “At least you’re first orator and you can get it over and done with.” She supplied with a hopeful smile.

“I suppose that’s true. Although I can’t sneak away until the night is over.”

“Just tell me if someone is being rude and I’ll set them straight.”

“Alright.” Lena laughed, amused. 

“God, these are good.” Kara moaned, refraining from licking her fingers just to keep some sense of poise.

“Come, let’s get some more and I’ll give them a try.”

They walked around the stage towards the long tables and found some people were already milling around. Lena didn’t actually get to try the shrimp because she was swiftly whisked away to greet several men in suits, who immediately started talking business. Kara trained her ear just to check they were not being rude and then focused on the important task of trying every single dish so she could grade the catering company and compare it to that of previous L Corp events she had attended. She watched as Lena shook hands with everyone who arrived and made polite small talk with some.

An hour later, Lena went up the stage to welcome everyone and commenced explaining the implications of the results of her initial research, and how necessary it would be to ensemble a team of scientist and neurologist who had been working on different neurodegenerative diseases and had made important breakthroughs in molecular imaging technologies. She didn’t look the least bit nervous, Kara thought, on the contrary. Lena looked so confident and smart and very much in her element. It was almost intimidating how she presented herself while she talked about her work, poised and serious but committed and caring at the same time. She wasn’t just talking about molecules and neurons and machines, she was also talking about people, mental health and life quality. She showed she cared and was invested in helping people, not just in the science. Kara felt pride swell inside her chest to the point of making her heart thump heavily as people politely clapped at the end of her speech. If a journalist tried to make it seem like this was all just an image cleansing from Lena’s part, Kara thought it would be downright shameful. But she did know some journalists didn’t particularly care about morals as long as they had a big paycheck.

She tried to approach Lena as she came down from the stage, but before she could reach her, Lena was surrounded by six journalists whom each wanted to ask different questions. Kara trained her ear on them, clenching her jaw when they asked inappropriate questions to which Lena politely replied with a “no comment.” Still, Kara couldn’t help but get closer and stand beside her friend, who glanced at her with a small smile.

“Miss Danvers.” Richard, one reporter she knew and wasn’t particularly fond of, greeted her. “Are you here representing CatCo?”

“Not really.” She replied curtly.

“I see.” He glanced at his recorder and stretched his hand to get it closer to Lena. “You look very elegant.” She didn’t give him an answer, so he pressed on. “Why don’t we talk once I finish up here?”

“I’m sorry, are you here to do your job or just to interrupt the real reporters?” A woman Kara didn’t know but was also waiting to ask Lena a few questions glared at him.

“Mind your own damn business.” He spat.

“Are there any questions you wish to ask me?” Lena looked straight at him and he stuttered for a moment before he looked down at a piece of paper with some scribbles on it.

“Men.” The woman rolled her eyes at Kara and she gave her an amused but grateful smile in return.

Kara waited patiently by Lena’s side as she finished answering all of their questions and finally turned towards her when they walked away.

“Having fun?” She asked sarcastically.

“I’m impressed, Lena. Really.” Kara gushed as they walked towards the tables. “I kinda wish I _was_ covering this story.”

“Did you find my project interesting?” She asked, piling some food onto a plate but glancing at her curiously.

“I find it fascinating. Humans, I mean people,” Kara quickly corrected herself. “Have been suffering from these diseases for a very long time, and you working on a cure gives me real hope of seeing it come true.”

Lena stared at her for a moment with a small smile that kept on getting bigger by the second.

“Really?” She asked disbelievingly.

“Of course, you’re a genius!” Kara said it like it was obvious and Lena scrunched up her face with a smile. “And –and seeing you up there talking about it, it was incredible. I could really see how much you care about the effect this would have on people’s lives, and you didn’t seem nervous at all! The more you talked the better I could picture it in my head, you working with those scientists and finding the cure.”

“Has anyone ever told you you give the best pep talks?” Lena smiled bashfully and Kara laughed.

“Really, I’m not just saying it.”

“I know.” Lena squeezed her arm. “Thank you, I wish the rest of the reporters were as nice as you.”

“Some of them are just gossipmongers.” Kara scoffed, glaring at Richard who was a few feet away stuffing canapés into his mouth.

Lena followed her line of sight and rolled her eyes.

“He’s a jerk.”

“I know!” Kara grinned.

They walked closer to the stage as someone came up to arrange the microphone for the next orator. They stood close as they listened to the rest of the speeches, some by members of charities who also had Parkinson or Alzheimer, and lastly one of the medical team members from Switzerland that Lena wanted to work with.

Lena felt her feet starting to hurt from being standing on high heels for hours and a slight headache as the stress of organizing the event washed over her.

“You okay?” Kara asked once she heard her sigh.

“Yeah, it’s going better than I could imagine but now I’m really wanting for it to be over.”

“How much longer is it?”

“Just an hour.” Lena answered looking at the time on her phone. “I’m not tired but my feet are feeling the effects of standing too long in these heels.”

“Why don’t we go sit for a moment?” Kara offered with a nod towards the chairs in the left side of the meeting room. She put her hand on the small of Lena’s back as they headed towards the seats and felt her friend stop in her tracks suddenly with an intake of breath.

“What is _he_ doing here?”

Kara followed her line of sight to the man who had been in Lena’s office that night three weeks ago. He was standing awkwardly by himself in a corner, almost as if he didn’t want to be seen.

“He’s not on the guest list?” Kara asked, leaning her body protectively towards Lena almost without noticing.

“No.” Lena stressed. “I checked into his company’s finances and they seemed sketchy at best.” They locked eyes. “I declined his offer the day after our meeting and didn’t hear from him again.” She started walking angrily towards him in long strides, Kara following on her heels.

“Mr. Dunst.” She called him out once they were three feet away.

His head snapped towards her quickly and he grimaced.

“Miss Luthor.” He greeted with a polite fake smile, feigning delight.

“Just what are you doing here?” She confronted him almost in a whisper.

“I’m so sorry!” A drop of sweat was already running down his temple. “I –I just thought I c-could convince you, if you –“

“I don’t recall you being on the guest list.” She interrupted. “Just how did you get in?”

Kara watched his eyes widen in panic, his right hand discreetly palming his pocket as he seemed to try to come up with an excuse. She lowered her glasses a little and used her x-ray vision to scan his pocket and could see a device she didn’t recognize with a small intermittent light. She wouldn’t take any chances so she quickly grabbed his arm tightly, immobilizing it, and reached for the device with her other hand.

“Hey! Ow!” He squirmed.

“What is this?” She showed it to Lena, careful not to draw attention to themselves. Her friend took it with a frown.

“Are you trying to steal information from people’s phones?” She hissed at him. Kara squeezed his arm tighter.

“I was just… trying to understand!” He squirmed again, trying and failing to release his arm from Kara’s grip. He glared at her. “Why would you turn me down?”

“It’s concerning you can’t take no for an answer.” Lena hissed. “I thought you were a business man. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.”

“Okay, just –let me go!” He whined.

Kara looked at Lena with a grimace; some people were turning their heads as Mr. Dunst raised his voice and tried to struggle to free his arm. Lena nodded and she let him go, just as a security guard approached them in fast strides.

“Please, show the man out.” Lena ordered him as politely as she could.

Bewildered, Kara followed her as she walked towards the service door that led to the kitchen. She rested her back and head against the wall as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Are you okay?” Kara asked in worry, resting her hand on Lena’s shoulder. She nodded. “What is that?”

“It’s a device that steals data from people’s phones by activating NFS without request.” She shook her head in anger. “He lied, he wasn’t here to convince me of anything.”

“Do you think he was trying to steal your project?” Kara frowned.

“I don’t know, really. I don’t think so.” She shrugged. “From what I’ve seen, he doesn’t have the knowledge or infrastructure to pull that off. God, tonight was really going _so well_.”

“I’m sorry, Lena. I’ll look into him, maybe we can send Supergirl to scare him off?” Lena turned her head towards her and smiled.

“I’ll think about it, okay?”

“Whatever helps you.” She nodded, sliding her hand down Lena’s shoulder to squeeze her bicep. “All you have to do is ask.”

“Thank you Kara.” She laughed. “It seems that’s all I’m saying to you today.” They both grinned.

“Are you okay?” She asked again.

“Yes, I just want this to be over. Let’s just go out there until everyone starts leaving.”

They walked inside the meeting room and luckily, no one bat an eyelash at them and there didn’t seem to be any whispers about a man being walked out by security. Kara stood aside as several people approached Lena to shake her hand and say their goodbyes, until the only people left were the catering and cleaning staff and a member of L Corp’s HR team. Lena dismissed her and smiled at Kara.

“I’ll call my driver and have him take you home.” She offered.

“Are you tired?” Kara eyed her with a smile.

“Just of being standing on these shoes.”

“Do you… I understand if you want to go home, but… I’m actually hungry.” She smiled guiltily with her shoulders raised.

“I can’t say I’m surprised.” Lena joked.

“Maybe we could get burgers and fries from Big Belly Burger?” She offered unsure. “I actually… miss having those with you.”

“If you ask so nicely…”

“Great!” Kara clapped her hands. “We could –I could take you, you know, to get there faster. I know you’re not a big fan of flying.”

“I did have many bad experiences.”

“But! I’m the safest way to travel if you think about it.”

Lena frowned, debating it, but her friend’s big puppy eyes made it hard for her to say no.

“Let’s not make it a habit, okay?”

Kara grinned and nodded. They headed out through the service door and walked around the corner to the hotel’s parking lot entrance to fly off without being seen. Kara held her by the waist tightly and Lena knew for a fact that there was no way she would drop her, but she still hid her face on her friend’s shoulder and squeezed her eyes shut. A few people turned their heads once they entered the fast food place at eleven pm looking so elegant, like they were going to a wedding. Kara’s grin was very amusing to Lena, who watched her order a triple burger and a simple cheese burger. It was, or had been, their usual, and Lena felt an odd feeling in her chest at her friend ordering it without a second thought, like it hadn’t been months and months since the last time they did this. It was silly, feeling a mix of nostalgia and happiness over a fast food order, but she supposed it wasn’t really about that. It was like she was just now feeling the happiness and peace those moments had brought her, how important the small things had really been.

“I want to show you something.” Kara said once they walked out with their order. “Take you somewhere, actually.”

“Does it involve flying again?” Lena joked.

“Maybe…” Kara cocked her head to the side cheekily. 

“Alright.” Lena feigned defeat but couldn’t hold back her smile.

They walked towards the alley they had landed a few minutes ago and Lena wrapped her arms around Kara’s shoulders once more, feeling one of her arms wrap around her waist while the other held the food tightly. She squeezed her eyes shut when they took off, feeling the cold wind on her cheeks and arms. She looked up when she realized they had landed and she was still holding on tightly to her friend’s shoulders that were now trying and failing not to shake with laughter.

“Don’t be mean.” Lena chided. She looked around, they were on a rooftop, and a very high one seeing how there weren’t any buildings blocking her view of the sky. “Where are we?” She asked in awe.

“The tallest building on National City.” Kara grinned. She reached out and took Lena’s hand, walking them closer to the edge.

Lena gasped at the view of the entire city, the night sky in contrast to the city lights.

“Wow. This is… beautiful.”

“I love it here.” Kara smiled. “I can see the entire city, but I actually like to come here and tune everyone out and just… rest my mind.”

They stared at the city in silence for a few minutes until Kara squeezed her hand. They hadn’t let go.

“Want to eat this before it gets cold?”

Lena nodded, taking off her shoes and taking Kara’s hand again as she helped her sit on the building ledge, a large balcony a few feet below them, not that she thought there was any possibility of her falling with Supergirl by her side. They opened the paper bag and started eating.

“God, I missed this.” Lena moaned after her first bite. “It’s actually been months since the last time I ate a burger.”

“What a travesty.” Kara shook her head disapprovingly, pressing a hand on her chest. “We’ll have to make sure that doesn’t happen again.” Lena glanced at her with a smile. 

“Promise?”

“I promise a burger a week, how about that?” She joked with a small smile, turning sideways to look at her.

“Every two weeks.” She bargained, rubbing her arm with her free hand.

“Are you cold?” Kara eyed her movement.

“A little.” There was only a cold breeze blowing but it was enough for her skin to rise in goosebumps.

Kara scooted a little closer, grabbing her burger with her left hand so she could wrap her right arm around Lena’s shoulder.

“You’re so warm.” Lena noticed as Kara’s hand wrapped around her bicep.

“I run warmer than humans.” Kara shrugged as she took the last bite of her burger.

Lena took a minute longer to finish, wiping her mouth with a napkin and staring ahead at the city. There were cars speeding down the streets, they looked so tiny as well as the people, who mostly seemed in a hurry. She wondered what their urgency was on a Saturday night. So many people that lived in the same city as her but that she would probably never know. Surely some of those people knew who she was, and some surely thought ill of her, even if they had never seen her or talked to her. Their opinion wasn’t really that important, she realized.

She felt Kara take a deep, relaxing breath beside her; she glanced at her to see her with closed eyes and a small smile. Lena leaned her head on her friend’s shoulder and closed her eyes as well. She could try to rest her mind for a moment, stop thinking about everyone else and their lives and their opinions. She took a deep breath as well. She didn’t need anyone’s approval or recognition, she wanted to just feel good with herself for a change.

All her life she had molded her actions and choices to please others and she was tired of it, of living her life for someone other than herself. She found she didn’t need much to feel, if not happiness, fulfillment, and she thought she felt it right then. Two months ago she didn’t recognize herself, she was lost and hated the person she had become, her emotions were taking over her and every path seemed to lead to a dead end. Now, after weeks of therapy and of opening those little boxes full of memories and emotions she didn’t know how to deal with, it was like a new path had opened up before her. She found a project that motivated her and actually made her feel like she could make a difference in people’s lives. Just by making a conscious choice of taking care of herself, she found the strength to fight off bad habits; and now she was finally reconstructing the most important relationship in her life. Getting her best friend back was a blessing she wasn’t going to take for granted; she knew relationships required work and she was willing to try, to learn to identify and talk about her feelings, and to voice her concerns before they ate away at her and turned to anger and resentment. She knew Kara was there for her, and it was a comfort greater than she imagined at first. It wasn’t every day the most kind and noble person on the planet decided she cared about you and wanted to keep you close. She could actually feel Kara’s affection and how much she cared about her by her actions alone.

“Are you still cold?” Kara whispered beside her. Lena shook her head and felt the arm around her squeeze affectionately.

“Can we stay here a little while longer?”

“Yeah.”

She could actually hear the smile in Kara’s voice.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena and Kara make plans for dinner but they go terribly wrong. Boxes pop open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! So yesterday I sat down to start this chapter and I couldn't stop until 4am. Enjoy and take care. Only two more chapters to go!

As she walked down the hallway, Lena couldn’t remember the last time she had walked out of a board meeting with a smile. After two months of research, their investigation was developing better than she could have foreseen and faster than they had originally estimated, the scientific and medical team were brilliant and worked together with ease and precision. Her smile kept getting bigger as she rode the elevator up to her office and thought about calling Kara to tell her the good news, not that she wasn’t constantly taking about her lab work and her team. She actually hoped her friend wasn’t already getting tired of listening to her talk about work. But Kara never did complain, never stopped smiling as she listened to her and actually always had lots of questions. It made Lena happy to know she could now be completely honest about her real intelligence and they could talk more seriously about science. It turns out Kara had been highly educated at Krypton and had studied science from a young age.

The meeting had actually run late and she had barely an hour left of work before she could go home, so calling Kara to meet up for dinner sounded like a great idea. She walked inside her office and her smile morphed into a grin as she spotted a familiar red and blue superheroine floating outside her office. She fought the silly urge of running towards her and walked out to meet her at her balcony instead.

“Kara, I was just about to call you!”

“Really?” Kara landed in front of her with a matching grin.

“Yes, I was just in a meeting. What are you doing here? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I was preventing a car crash nearby and um, I flew by.” She scratched the back of her neck with a blush. Lena laughed.

“Well I was about to call you to ask if you wanted to have dinner. If you don’t have any plans…”

“I’d love to.” Kara smiled as they walked inside together. “So how was your meeting?”

“It was great, actually.” They sat on the couch. “I can’t remember the last time we talked all good news, really.”

“Sounds amazing.” Kara leaned back against the couch. “Research is going good?”

“Better than our initial estimations.” She looked at Kara, who had closed her eyes with a smile as she laid her head on the back of the couch. Lena smiled. “Long day?”

“Yeah.” Kara opened one eye briefly to look at her. “Mostly at the office, I’m working on an investigation with Nia and we had a brain storming session today that had me drained.”

“Do you want me to order you a coffee from downstairs?”

“I think I mostly need food, although I could drink a glass of water.”

“Sure thing.” Lena got up to fetch it for her. “So what’s the story?”

“Do you remember those stolen weapons from the DEO?” Kara sat up straight on the couch, running her hands through her hair. Lena nodded as she handed her the glass. “Thanks. Well, there was a robbery at a lab a week back and security footage showed the thief had one of the missing guns we’ve been looking for.”

“Did you trace the thief?”

“We did.” Kara nodded, side-eyeing Lena as she set the glass on the coffee table. “That’s where our investigation connects with this robbery.”

“Is there something you have to tell me? I know that look.” Lena sat straighter, turning sideways to better face her friend.

“It’s this group of _fans_.” She grimaced at the word. “Lex’s fans.”

“Oh.” Lena’s face fell. Kara reached to take her hand.

“They want to vindicate him, they’re doing it by attacking aliens, FBI agents… what they essentially want is for him to be let out of prison.”

“That is never going to happen.” Lena gritted out. “He’s a maniac! What excuse do they have to ask for such a thing?”

“They’re calling him a political prisoner. They’re saying he got framed by alien members of government who want to take over the country.” She squeezed her hand as Lena pinched the bridge of her nose.

“That’s… insane.”

“I know.” Kara pressed her lips together with a frown as she looked at Lena. “We’ll stop them, don’t worry about it.”

“What if they have weapons the DEO doesn’t know about?”

“I can’t safely say that’s not possible.” Kara shrugged. “But we’re working hard on catching them before they do anything dangerous.”

“Lex’s hatred for aliens ran deep.” Lena frowned, her other hand joining to hold Kara’s in between her own. “What if they have some weapon that can hurt you?”

“Those weapons are at the fortress.” Kara shook her head. “There is no way they could have access.” She tried to give her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry about me.”

“That’s easy to say.” Lena scoffed. “Before, I could actually work to upgrade your suit and do something to protect you.”

“You actually saved my life.” Kara smiled genuinely this time. “I’m glad I still have you around.”

“Don’t joke about that, please.” Lena rolled her eyes.

“I’m sorry.” Kara laughed affectionately, leaning forward and wrapping Lena’s shoulders in a hug. “I promise, we’re doing everything we can to catch them.”

“Okay.” Lena smiled as they pulled apart. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to overreact. I just worry.”

“Don’t apologize, it’s okay to feel that way. I can relate.” Kara shrugged one shoulder. “Humans are so fragile, that thought scares me sometimes.” She jumped as her phone vibrated in her suit pocket. “It’s Alex.” She frowned as she stood up and took the call. “Hey.”

Lena perked up and frowned at Kara’s expression as she listened to her sister on the other end.

“Okay, I’m on my way.” She said to the phone and then looked at Lena. “I have to go to the DEO, they have information on a possible robbery from these people.”

“Okay.” Lena stood up. “Be safe, please.”

“I will.” Kara smiled. “About dinner… I’ll call you as soon as I can. Maybe I can make it.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Lena forced a smile and, in a second, Kara was gone.

Lena walked over to her desk and opened up her laptop, she could finish up a report due in two days as she waited. She tried not to worry, Kara did these things all the time, fight villains and criminals, and these were just some crazy humans, not advanced aliens. But alien-hating humans were really dangerous, she knew first hand; they were driven by hate, they had no morals and no mercy. If they thought her brother innocent after all his proven crimes and believed in crazy conspiracy theories to justify their world views, they surely were unstable people who might do radical things to achieve their end: releasing an alien-hating, megalomaniac lunatic into the world, and one who had substantial power to manipulate people and accomplish his crimes. 

Lena sighed, even in prison her brother disrupted lives and put people in danger, and she hated feeling responsible even if she wasn’t. This guilt she was so accustomed to feel wanted to eat away at her and make her feel like it was her duty to fix her brother’s mistakes, even if she rationally knew she wasn’t obligated. But he was her brother; it was her family name that made so many aliens suffer, directly and indirectly. Lex’s hate speech dug deep in some people, who then went on to discriminate aliens and commit hate crimes. It was more than not wanting her name associated with those despicable things, she didn’t want them to happen, period. Lena knew the world was a cruel place, but she wanted to at least stop bad things from happening if it was within her capabilities. Her therapist told her she was a _sensitive_ person, she cared a lot, but she couldn’t hold herself responsible for other people’s actions, even if those people were family members. She rationally knew that to be true, but it was hard to fight those feelings. She also knew the need to save everyone from the evils of humanity had led her down a dark path she never wished to walk down again. She should focus on the things she _was_ able to do, her therapist had also told her, instead of tormenting herself over all the things she couldn’t help. It was hard to fight her mindset of over twenty years, but she was working on it. It was a start. And luckily for her, she had many means to achieve her goals, she was a privileged woman, and she could put that privilege in the service of others.

Looking at the opened and unedited document in the screen in front of her and noticing half an hour had passed without her writing a single line, she closed her laptop with a sigh. Maybe a little lab work could help. She dismissed her secretary on her way to the elevator and rode it down to the basement lab, following a hall to the left where she had her private workspace. It was true that right now she didn’t have a contract with the DEO to work on improving Kara’s suit, but maybe someday things would change, and there was no harm in exploring the ideas that were running through her mind.

Another hour had passed without her realizing it, an hour and a half since Kara had left. She decided to go home and called her driver, who was at the building entrance ten minutes later. Anxious, Lena searched for the news on her phone as the car started to drive along National City’s main avenue. There was nothing on Supergirl besides the car crash she had prevented two hours ago, Kara was surely still at the DEO.

Once home, Lena changed from her pencil skirt and shirt to some jeans and a hoodie. She hoped Kara would want to stay in instead of going to a restaurant. Lena had had enough of dealing with people for the day. Checking her phone, she found five missed calls from a private number. Someone must have called her while she was changing. Before she could think about who it could be, the phone started vibrating in her hand.

“Hello?”

“Lena! Thank God you picked up, it’s Alex.” 

“Alex?” She asked, confused. It took a second for her mind to catch up and her heart jumped up to her throat where it started to do very uncomfortable summersaults.

“Please Lena, there’s no time. Kara’s hurt. Please, I know we’re not in the best –“

“Where is she? I’m coming right now.” She interrupted.

“I’ll send J’onn to pick you up. It’s that ok? It’s urgent.”

“Yes! Send him, I’m at home.”

Alex hung up without saying anything else. She sounded frightened, and Lena felt her own hands already cold and clammy. What could have possibly happened that they had decided to call her? It had to be bad. It had to be very bad. Her legs started shaking, she knew those fanatics would go after Kara, Lex hated her and Superman, they were the main obstacle between him and controlling the world.

“Miss Luthor!” J’onn called on her from behind her closed balcony door.

She ran to him, opening the door and closing it behind her.

“Let’s go.” She didn’t think to ask anything, questions could wait.

Lena forgot her anxiousness about flying as J’onn sped them through the sky faster than Kara had done that night after the fundraiser, but instead of running all the possibilities on which Kara could have gotten hurt, her mind was blank with fear. If she started thinking, her brain would conjure up the worst. It took them only a minute to land at the DEO’s headquarters. She followed J’onn almost in a sprint as he took her to the medical wing.

The first thing she saw was Kara lying on a gurney, alive. But she looked sick, and Alex was applying a compress to her forehead.

“Kara?” Lena rushed towards her and the blonde turned to her with a pained smile, her eyes glossy. “Are you okay?” Kara had the audacity to laugh. “I know, stupid question.”

“She has a fever.” Alex answered instead.

“What? How is that possible?” She took Kara’s hand between her sweaty ones.

“They… stabbed me.” Kara whined.

“Lena, I don’t know how that is even possible, but they actually stuck a needle on her.” Alex ran her hands through her hair anxiously. “It’s like she blew out her powers, but worse. She passed out, J’onn brought her here, and she started sweating and her temperature started rising.”

“Did you take a blood sample?”

“Yes, we’re processing it right now.”

“Good.” Lena nodded, thinking. Then she saw something on Kara’s arm and turned it sideways. “What is this?” She ran her hand along the Super’s arm, it seemed like a rash. She lifted Kara’s shirt and saw it spreading though her stomach and ribs.

“What…” Alex breathed out, immediately checking her sister’s legs. They were clear.

“It’s affecting her immune system.” Lena said almost to herself. She brought her hand up to arrange the compress on Kara’s forehead and pressed the back of her hand on her cheek to feel her temperature. Kara brought her own hand up to still Lena’s, who turned it to cup Kara’s face. “Does anything hurt?”

“Whole body hurts.” Kara pouted. “I feel terrible.”

“We weren’t able to catch those bastards, they ambushed her, they knew she was coming.” Alex gritted through her teeth.

“Nia… will find them.” Kara mumbled, closing her eyes.

“Won’t human medicine work if she doesn’t have her powers?” Lena turned towards Alex, Kara had let go of her hand and seemed to be drifting off.

“We tried, but we’re not seeing any results.” She shook her head, frowning in anger. “I’ve never seen her like this, at worst she would catch a common cold when she blew out her powers.”

“Let’s try to keep the temperature under control and hope no other symptoms show before we can analyze that sample.” 

Kara started shaking as soon as she finished that sentence.

“Febrile seizure.” Lena frowned. “Time it!”

Alex shook her head from looking wide eyed at her sister and looked down at the watch.

“I’ve never seen an adult do this.” Lena breathed out as she held Kara’s hand with one of hers and the other cupped the side of her face.

“Two minutes.” Alex announced when her sister stopped shaking.

“Lena.” Kara groaned, opening her eyes and trying to focus her sight.

“It’s done, Miss Danvers.” A DEO agent in a lab coat announced a few feet away.

“I’ll make you better, you just wait.” Lena smiled reassuringly at her friend, stroking her face before walking away to follow the agent.

Alex stared at her as she walked away before turning towards her sister and holding the hand Lena had been previously holding.

“Good thing you got your genius best friend back.” She joked with worry on her face.

“Good thing.” Kara echoed with a smile.

“I might as well start to trust her after she saves your life.”

“Again.” Kara chuckled, then grimaced in pain.

Alex changed the compress and watched her sister drift in and out of consciousness while she waited for news either from Nia or Lena. She didn’t want to think about what would happen if the Luthor wasn’t there for her sister, or if she had gone over to the dark side like she thought she would. She felt a little guilty now for not having the same faith in her as her sister had, but Lena’s actions had made her a threat, albeit temporarily, and she couldn’t have taken any chances back then. But now she couldn’t deny the change she saw in Lena, she was frightened for Kara, and there was no way she was _that_ good of an actress. The way she had held Kara and stroked her face couldn’t have been fake; she had to trust that Lena had changed.

“Alex.” J’onn suddenly appeared at the medical hall entrance. She walked up to meet him. “Nia’s located them, we’re sending a team and I’m coming with them.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“No, you have to stay here and take care of Kara. Please Alex.”

“Okay.” Alex sighed, nodding. “You’re right. Please be careful.”

J’onn nodded and walked away swiftly. As Alex turned to walk to her sister’s bedside she saw Lena marching towards her.

“We have to isolate her.” Lena proclaimed. “This thing that’s inside her, it’s acting like a virus would.” She explained as they strode towards Kara together. “It’s using Kara’s cells to replicate itself, wrecking her immune system in the process. She could catch anything right now.”

“Shit.” Alex spat. “I never thought…”

They moved to each end of the gurney to roll it to an isolation room but stopped when Kara groaned, sitting up and doubling over with her arms around her middle.

“My stomach…” Kara moaned. “I –I think I’m…”

Alex grabbed a trashcan just in time for her sister to bend over and throw up in it.

“Done, let’s go.” Alex urged as her sister lay back down with a grunt.

“Digestive system.” Lena muttered as they pushed the gurney and Alex opened the door with one hand.

“Kara, can you stand?” Alex asked softly. “We need you to lie in another bed.”

Kara nodded, slowly sitting up with Lena’s help and lowering her legs from the bed, standing and wobbling slightly.

“Just a few steps.” Lena encouraged, wrapping her arm around Kara’s waist and guiding her onto the bed. “I think it would be better if we put her inside the protective suit.” She said to Alex.

“Is that okay?” Alex asked her sister who nodded, changing into her supersuit. “I’ll activate it now.” Alex warned before pressing the symbol. 

“Hang on Kara, okay?” Lena requested although she couldn’t see her friend’s response.

“It’s better if I stay outside.” Alex told her, squeezing her hand and walking away with Lena.

They closed the door and Alex watched as Lena ran a hand down her face with a frown.

“Are you okay?” She asked, Lena just let out a breath and shrugged. “Nia’s located these nutheads and we sent a team to catch them, hopefully we can get a sample of whatever it is they’ve injected her with.”

“That would be excellent news.” Lena sighed. “I should get back.”

“I’ll go with you. If that’s okay.” She added at Lena’s stare. “I can’t stay here and do nothing.”

“Sure.” Lena conceded.

They walked inside the lab and Alex sat on a stool next to Lena as she examined the sample through a microscope.

“If I can get a live sample maybe I can make it reverse the damage.” Lena mumbled after a while. “I think it’s trying to make Kara human, permanently.”

“How on Earth…” Alex mumbled.

“This is eerily similar to Medusa.” Lena looked up to meet her eyes, moving aside and motioning for Alex to look for herself.

“These men are not just lunatic goons.” Alex said, looking up. “If someone modified the medusa virus to attack kryptonians…”

“I don’t think that’s it.” Lena shook her head. “Medusa killed aliens instantly, this is replicating itself, replacing Kara’s cells with human cells. Her body is fighting back and reacting this way, but I don’t know how much longer this can go on before…” She squeezed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. “I’m not sure how it would end.” They locked eyes.

“Lena…” Alex frowned. “I know we’re not in the best of terms right now, and I… I want to say I’m sorry.” Lena raised her eyebrows in surprise. “I’m sorry I didn’t approach you sooner so we could… I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I have to confess, I did lose my faith in you for a moment.”

“I can imagine.” Lena replied dryly.

“Kara never did, and I didn’t understand… I was worried; she cares so much about you and no matter what happened, she always told me she could still save you. I can see she was right, now, but back then I was afraid she couldn’t see past her feelings.”

“I’m doing a lot on my part to change.” Lena confessed. “I know I did many wrong things, I don’t deny it, but I’m working on it. Kara and I talked about this many times.”

“I know.” Alex nodded. “She told me, and she’s always talking about your project and… she’s so happy now.” She frowned. “But after you left her there at the fortress… I never saw her like that, she loves you and she was devastated.”

Lena looked away at that, feeling her heart jump inside her chest, feeling that overstuffed box threatening to burst.

“I’m sorry, I’m not trying to make you feel bad, I just want you to understand. You’re so important to my sister, and I don’t want to see her get hurt.”

“Me neither.” Lena whispered. She looked up to lock eyes with Alex. “I… I don’t want to hurt her.”

“I can see that now. That’s why I wanted to say, I’m sorry for giving up. And… maybe we could… not start over but, turn the page?” She offered.

“I can do that.” Lena nodded with a side smile.

“Okay.” Alex nodded. “We’re not hugging, though.” They chuckled.

“Okay, it’s here!” Nia exclaimed, running towards them with one raised arm carrying what looked like an Epipen. “Oh, Lena.” She stopped in front of them.

“Yes.” Lena smiled politely, taking the device from her outstretched hand.

“Are they here?” Alex asked Nia with a scowl.

“Yes ma’am, containing cells and interrogation room.”

“I’ll leave you to it.” She nodded towards Lena and walked away.

Lena immediately got to work, trying not to think about Kara getting worse. It had always been easier when she didn’t know the patient or wasn’t emotionally attached, and this couldn’t be farther from that scenario. And thinking that she was the only one able to save Kara didn’t help, either.

She had always been good at containing her emotions, setting them aside on a neat little box, putting that box inside a bigger box and piling it up in a corner of her mind. But for the last few months she had started working on it, her emotions, so that they could never again overflow her and take control of her actions, cloud her mind and take her down that dark path she could still see, cold and isolated. She thought about it like a move, all those unmarked boxes piled up; she had to classify them, categorize them and organize them in tidy shelves she could then pinpoint, acknowledge and work on. It was going well for the most part, some boxes were smaller, easier to work on; some, like her childhood trauma or her family abuse, were big metal boxes that occupied entire rooms in her mind. But there was a box, red and blue and overstuffed, threatening to spill, she hadn’t been able to classify; or rather, the little words written in black ink were just out of sight, but she knew if she got close enough, she would see. That red and blue box, filled to the brim, was pulsing, about to explode like a can of worms, and she didn’t know if she ready.

“How is Kara?” She asked a while later when Nia walked into the lab again, holding a cup of coffee.

“She’s stable, but her fever won’t drop and she threw up a couple of times.” Nia grimaced, setting the coffee on the table. “Drink, it’s two am.”

“Thank you.” Lena smiled tightly.

“How is that going?”

“Almost done. If she’s the same as when we put her inside the suit, I think our chances are good.”

“Kara did say you were a genius.” Nia smiled.

“Yeah, well…” She trailed off awkwardly.

“I’m glad you worked out your issues. Kara is so happy.” Nia sat on a stool in front of her, resting her head on her arms.

“I am too.” Lena mumbled.

An hour later she had successfully modified the virus to do its opposite job, neutralize the cells the previous serum had commanded to replace kryptonian DNA. She left Nia sleeping on the lab table and walked briskly towards Kara’s room. On her way she met Alex, who was talking angrily with J’onn. They both seemed upset.

“Lena!” Alex exclaimed as soon as she saw her.

“I’ve got it.” Lena lifted up the injection, not bothering to stop her walk. Alex caught up with her in a few long strides and they walked towards Kara’s room together.

“I reversed the serum so that it neutralizes the cells that are trying to replace Kara’s DNA.” She informed her as Alex opened the door to let her in.

“Okay, thank God.” Alex sighed, running a hand over her face. “Kara?” She called sweetly, resting her hand on her sister’s arm.

“I feel sick.” Kara mumbled.

“I know, we’re going to make you better, okay? I’m taking you out of the suit.” Alex pressed the symbol on the suit and it disappeared.

“I fixed it.” Lena smiled softly. “I need to give you this injection, okay?”

Kara turned her head sideways and smiled at Lena, trying and failing to focus her sight. Her arm was cold and she flinched when she felt the sting.

“Thank you.” She breathed, closing her eyes again.

Lena didn’t say anything, she stood still and watched for a reaction of any kind. Alex dried her sister’s face with a cloth, and a few minutes later Kara had stopped sweating. She checked her temperature and it was effectively dropping.

Lena sighed, holding herself up with both hands on Kara’s mattress and dropping her head between her arms, breathing hard.

“Lena.” Alex rested a hand on her shoulder and it immediately started shaking with held back sobs. “Okay, I’m going to hug you now.” She announced. Lena turned sideways and let herself be wrapped in Alex’s arms. “Thank you, you did it. You saved her.”

They pulled away when they heard the door open, wiping their tears discreetly as Nia walked into the room.

“Why didn’t you wake me?!” She whisper-shouted. “What happened?”

“Kara’s getting better, Lena did it.” Alex smiled.

“Yes, I knew it!” Nia punched up, disregarding personal space completely as she pulled Lena into a tight hug. “I knew Kara didn’t have so much faith in you for nothing.” She grinned as she pulled away, walking over to Kara’s bedside.

“I should finish the interrogations out there. I don’t think I can leave any of it for tomorrow.” Alex pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Go, I’ll check on her.” Lena nodded. She turned around to find Nia looking at her.

“I know Alex has probably said this to you already, but if you break Kara’s heart again, we’ll lock you in a mobile DEO cell and send you to the North Pole.”

Lena looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m kidding.” Nia waived her hand. “Unless…” She glared.

“I resolved my issues with Kara.” Lena replied dryly, moving to stand on the other side of her friend’s bed and pressing the back of her hand to her forehead.

“I know.” Nia nodded solemnly. “She was really hurt, and I’m sure you were hurt, too.” Lena looked up, surprised. “I know we haven’t interacted as much outside of game night, and I gotta say, I wasn’t sure whether you had gone to the dark side, but Kara had faith in you. She loves you, so I’m glad she wasn’t wrong.” She smiled. “So I hope you’ll maybe come to game night again soon. Who knows? Maybe we’ll get to know each other better.”

Lena was dumbfounded, this girl was going to give her whiplash. First she threatened to send her to the North Pole and a minute later she extended an offer for friendship. Although she could see why Kara liked her so much.

“Maybe someday.” She conceded.

“If you don’t mind, I need to rest my eyes a little.” She walked to lay down on the other bed in the room.

Lena didn’t answer, she looked at Kara and could already see color returning to her cheeks, her face no longer frowning but relaxed. She smiled, in this light she could see tiny freckles on her cheeks. That thought filled her with warmth for some reason; she never imagined aliens had freckles. She took her hand, stroking it with her thumb as she watched her sleep. The day had ended up far from what she had imagined when she went out of that meeting with a smile and thoughts of her best friend. She wanted to call her to share good news, eat and laugh with her before going to sleep. Alone, of course, not that… She sighed.

Her chest was brimming with emotion, trying and failing not to think of what would have happened if Alex hadn’t called her for help. What if Kara and her had never made up? What if she had held on to that fear and never confronted her? Would Kara still be moaning in this very bed? Would she be… she couldn’t even say it in her mind. The world could have very well lost its hero tonight. She could have lost her friend. She could have lost Kara, and in that world, even with all the other things that kept her life together, she never could have found a way to be happy. She could live in a world where Kara didn’t forgive her, a world where they weren’t friends; it would be dull, but she could live with that. But a world where Kara was completely gone? It was awful and dark.

The words Nia and Alex had spoken to her today resonated in her mind. Kara was so sad, and now she’s so happy. Kara loves you. That… made that overstuffed box, full to the brim, tumble over on its weight. She had also been miserable, she was also so very happy now that Kara was by her side, now that they spent so much time together, saw each other several times a week, sometimes to watch a movie, sometimes for dinner, or lunch, and just because. There wasn’t anything new to tell, sometimes. Sometimes all she could think about when it was time to go home, was of how her day would be significantly better if she saw Kara, if only for a little while. And then there were times when she didn’t want her to leave. That thought scared her. Of course she couldn’t ask her to stay, that wasn’t something friends did past their high school age. But she wanted her to stay. Because… because she was so happy now, too. Because she loved Kara.

She had loved her for a very long time, and that little box had started to grow with every good thing her friend did for her, for every time she brought donuts or any type of food to cheer her up, for the times she took care of her when she was drunk, for the times she had stood up for her when no one else had. There were so many little things she kept storing inside, and when her brother had told her the truth about Kara’s identity, she had grabbed that box and kicked it back to the very far end of her mind. Because she had been made to believe every single thing inside it were lies. But Kara hadn’t given up on her, and that box had started to vibrate, to keep her up at night. That box had helped her in her darkest moment, when she was being manipulated into killing the one person who had unwavering faith in her, the only person who brought a light into that overcrowded space with her bright red, bright blue box that radiated warmth late at night when her defenses were low.

And now that they saw each other so often, now that she had put up shelves and classified her emotions in neat rows, Kara’s box kept on growing and occupying every space, and she could no longer ignore it. Now she wasn’t sure she even wanted to ignore it.

“Hey.” Kara’s voice sounded raspy and tired.

Lena lifted her head from the mattress where she had been resting it, sitting on a chair beside Kara’s bed.

“Kara.” She breathed out. “How are you feeling?”

“I don’t remember much but, I think I feel a lot better.”

“Do you want water, anything?”

“No, it’s okay.” She smiled. “I do remember something about you saving my life?”

“Well… I sort of did.” She smiled awkwardly.

“Lena Luthor, my hero.” She laughed as Lena scrunched up her nose and squeezed her eyes in a shy smile. “Is that Nia?” She asked when she saw someone else in the next bed.

“Yes. She’s been resting her eyes for the past hour.”

“Come with me?” Kara patted the side of the bed. Lena hesitated. “Please, I don’t want you sleeping like that.”

“Are you sure? I could go home.”

“I don’t want you to go.” Kara said lowly.

Lena tried her hardest to stop her heart from beating strongly inside her chest, but then she remembered Kara probably didn’t have her powers yet so she couldn’t tell. She took off her sneakers as Kara scooted to one side of the bed to make room for her. She lifted up the covers and Lena slid inside, resting on her side and feeling Kara’s arm sneak around her shoulders under her neck. She tucked a hand against her chest between their bodies and carefully laid her other arm across Kara’s stomach.

“Are you comfortable?” She asked, looking up when there was no answer. Kara had fallen back asleep.

Lena took a deep breath and, despite everything that had gone down that night, she swore she could feel Kara’s perfume. It wasn’t just a fragrance, it was her scent, the one she left on the clothes she would sometimes forget at Lena’s apartment. Lena felt warm inside, she loved that smell. She loved Kara. It was liberating to admit, but vertiginous nonetheless, because she kept on falling.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena joins game night at Kara's place. Jittery fluff with a dose of overthinking!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was so hard to write, and real life things happened in the middle that made it even harder, but here it is. Hope it meets your expectations. Also minor spoilers for The Good Place, lol. Read you on the last chapter!

Cold days had arrived in National City. Kara found she liked it better than the heat. The city seemed quieter, less people were out and about in parks and busy streets, there was less noise and also less crimes. She also loved seeing people huddled together for warmth, with their faces hidden behind scarves and wool hats. Humans were funny when they were cold, they hid their heads between their shoulders and walked quickly like chickens, and there was something hilarious about mittens, too. They seemed to appreciate the sun more as well, lifting their faces up to catch some of that heat, finally looking up and seeing the sky. Temperature wise, it was all the same for her; she didn’t sweat in the summer and her body always ran warm, so the cold was no problem. She also loved the smell of hot cocoa, the steam that fogged people’s glasses when they drank something hot, the holiday decorations.

Kara found people in Lejre weren’t that different from those in National City, although she had to admit the landscape and temperatures couldn’t compare. She watched two bundled up children play in the snow, could see as in slow motion as the snowflakes fell and landed on the fine ends of the blonde hair peaking from under their hats; it glistened under the sun as it balanced on their clear eyelashes and fell like a droplet when they blinked. Snow was fascinating, especially as it glowed under the sun’s rays.

“Tusind tak!” She exclaimed, a little startled, when she found the woman from the chocolate store staring at her with a mix of curiosity and amusement with a bag in her outstretched hand.

Despite the language breach, she could tell as soon as she walked in that the woman was excited to have Supergirl inside her store, although a little surprised she was there to buy chocolates.

To be completely honest, Kara was also a little surprised to find herself there. She wanted everything to be perfect tonight, even though Lena had been to her house so many times before. This time was different, of course, because for the first time in a long time all their friends would be there as well. Kara knew there was nothing more she had to prove, and that if Lena had agreed to join game night once more, it was because she wanted to and nothing else. Kara hadn’t pressured her, she had mentioned a while back how she would love for her to come again, but that was it. Then a few days back, they met for lunch, and Lena had been so happy about the latest breakthrough in her research she wanted to celebrate with dinner, and Kara was more than ready to lie about her plans for Saturday night, but her friend seemed to remember. And Lena, all by herself, suggested they could celebrate at game night. Kara had been so excited she was positive Lena’s feet lifted off the ground with the bear hug she had been enveloped her in.

Still, she was nervous, and felt an insecurity she thought she had left behind. Their friendship had transformed since they had decided to give themselves another chance, sometimes it felt just like old times, and sometimes it felt like something completely different. There _were_ differences, mainly honesty and no secrecy, those were the spoken ones. But there were also some unspoken differences that started out progressively, so gradually she couldn’t sometimes remember the first time it happened until it happened all the time. Like text messages during the day, like Kara sending Lena funny pictures of dogs from that account that rated them, like Lena texting her at night when she would drink her chamomile tea, a habit so installed Kara could close her eyes and imagine the exact position Lena would sit as she drank, the way she would stuck a finger between the pages of her book to take a sip or to answer Kara’s text.

As winter came and the days got colder, she noticed gestures she had almost started taking for granted, like Lena’s hand wrapped in her own. The difference in temperature was sometimes stark, and Kara loved to feel the cold dissipating from Lena’s palms, then her fingers until the tips were warm. Lena joked she was like a portable furnace when she huddled close and let Kara wrap an arm around her waist and bring her closer. Those actions came so naturally for her she sometimes forgot they were completely new. She was a hugger and a comforter, but she had never felt what she could now only describe as magnetism. Lena was in the same room and she felt a sort of gravitational pull, thought of herself as a heat-seeking missile and sometimes found herself holding back, stopping herself from reaching out.

Kara had always had to measure her actions, calculate her strength and the speed in which she moved, but she wasn’t used to stopping herself from doing what she wanted to do. She couldn’t very well have her friend at arm’s length all the time whenever they were together, least of all invade her personal space. She had started to leave a reasonable distance between them, which always got shorter as minutes went by until, without realizing, her hand was on Lena’s leg, or their knees were touching, or their shoulders pressed together. Lena had a habit of laying her head on her shoulder to inevitably fall asleep in the middle of a movie, or linking their arms together and placing her other hand atop Kara’s arm. During those times, although her glasses helped her turn off the noise and fight off light sensitivity, her sense of smell made her acutely aware of Lena’s scent, the unique smell of her skin. It had been a while since she had experienced sensory overload, but it sometimes made her dizzy even though she was sitting down.

So yes, she was anxious, because lately she found herself measuring and taking note of her actions and restraining herself around Lena. And so sometimes, her recurring nightmares took the form of a crying Lena accusing her of keeping things from her, of lying to her even when she had promised not to. In the weird shape dreams sometimes presented themselves, they were in that back yard fighting Reign, in that alternate universe. And Lena was crying instead of smiling, and fell into her arms, and Kara couldn’t hear her heartbeat and woke up not being able to breathe.

Kara felt angry with herself. They were probably in their best moment since becoming friends, with such a deep understanding of each other and talking things through all the time. She hated her subconscious for trying to sabotage that. She was afraid of losing Lena even though it was probably the least likely thing to happen. She found herself putting so much pressure on herself every time they would see each other, and even if Lena eased all her insecurities as their minutes together went by, they were inevitably on the back of her mind.

She wanted things to be perfect tonight, without revealing to all her friends how anxious she really was. Alex would mock her for once again flying to other countries to get things for Lena. Nia wouldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. And she was also afraid of revealing too much, it certainly wouldn’t fly past Kelly’s radar that there was something she was hiding from them. In her habit of playing the untouchable hero, Kara hadn’t voiced her concerns nor talked about her nightmares with them again after that night, although she could sometimes feel Kelly’s eyes on her, studying her, noticing when she wouldn’t laugh at some jokes with the rest of them. Asking for their friends to behave and be nice to Lena would be opening herself up for inevitable questions she was trying to avoid. She just had to accept she couldn’t control _everything,_ at least not other people’s actions. Lena wasn’t made of glass, she reminded herself, she could take an ill-timed joke in stride.

Kara flew back to her apartment and hid away the chocolate; she wasn’t planning on sharing it with everyone. She was hoping Lena would stay after everybody left so they could finish the season of The Good Place they were currently watching, if they were lucky enough not to end up playing five hours of Risk, which she had been promising Nia they would play for weeks.

After patrolling around the city for an hour and finding it mostly quiet, she went back home. Superspeed didn’t help to ease her restlessness when she could clean her entire apartment in two minutes, so Kara resorted to baking cookies and catching up on the twenty-something articles she had bookmarked for research.

The article she was working on was going well, but she felt the need to go deeper than just the facts. Hate crimes were not just about evil people with no regard for differences, she thought. The people who believed in someone like Lex Luthor weren’t just mindless sheep who looked for a leader, and she wanted to dig into their minds and find out exactly why it was they feared change, why they were so easily manipulated into believing these conspiracy theories and fake news. She knew the media played a big part in twisting their perceptions about aliens, making them believe they were a threat. If they only saw how better it would be for human kind to work and live alongside aliens, to lift each other up, the world would be a better place and society could evolve.

She wanted to find out exactly who wanted to keep people divided, to whose interests it played. There were powerful people that benefited from the old divide and conquer, from keeping society ignorant of the benefits of human-alien cooperation. To believe aliens who wanted to take over government were the real threat was naïve; powerful humans and corporations were the real masterminds behind world chaos, a smoke screen to the real strings moving the pieces of the game. They wanted to keep people so in the dark they couldn’t see the players or the actual game. She knew the people lured into believing they were helping mankind by committing these crimes were not innocent, they did crossed a line, they were both victims and criminals, and she wanted to also know what made them cross that line.

Delving into human minds and trying to understand them had always served as a great distraction from her own mind, to stop the thoughts that sometimes ran it through over and over, from dancing in her head. It always happened when she was stressed, the recurring nightmares and unrelenting thoughts, her restlessness. Sometimes her mind fixed on one idea and got caught up in it, and this was a way of pushing it down. She knew it wasn’t right not to work on her feelings, and she had always had difficulty asking for help. She did tell Lena about her anxiety and the nightmares, although not that she was involved in any of them, and Lena had hinted not so subtlety at how her therapist had helped her so much with managing her emotions. Throwing herself into work wasn’t a healthy coping mechanism, and neither was occupying her mind with other things so as to not think about her own problems, her feelings.

It had always been easier helping other people than helping herself, it was just getting harder to ignore after all she had been through lately. Getting her friendship with Lena back had helped her, a lot. But there were other issues she had been dealing with ever since landing on Earth, starting from losing her world and those years she lost in the phantom zone, which were a lot harder to deal with. Almost losing everything again had brought her old ghosts back to the surface. Those usually were the source of her nightmares. No matter how good the love of her friends and family did to her, deep down she knew it sometimes wasn’t enough. And now these new feelings tormenting her lately, these feelings she had to deal with, scared her to death. Could she be risking the most precious thing she felt she had right now by coming clean?

The doorbell rang and she jumped in her seat. She hadn’t gotten around to reading past the second article, instead she had been lost in her thoughts and the smell of cookies permeated the apartment. She buzzed her sister in and took the cookies out of the oven.

“Door was open.” Alex announced as she walked inside. “Damn Kara, how many cookies did you bake?” She sniffed the air as she placed her grocery bag down on the table.

“About thirty?” She shrugged. “Oh, is that beer?”

“Yes.” Her sister opened the fridge and started stashing the bottles inside. “Oh, should I have brought some wine for Lena? I didn’t think about that.”

“No, that’s okay.” Kara didn’t know if she should say something about Lena not drinking. Maybe it was something personal. Or what if those beers made her uncomfortable?

“You okay?” Alex eyed her suspiciously. “Is Lena not coming?”

“What? No, she is. It’s… I don’t know. It’s nothing.” She closed her computer and put her work stuff inside her bag.

“Have you two fought?” Alex prodded.

“No.” Kara shook her head, drooping down on the couch. “I’m… nervous.” She blushed.

“Why? Because she’s coming?” Kara nodded. Alex tried her to suppress her laugh, pressing her lips together but not being able to stop them stretching, making her eyes glint with amusement. “Kara, it’s just Lena. She’s been here plenty of times, this isn’t new for any of us.”

“I know.” Kara wined, dropping her head back on the couch.

“So what is it then? Did you fly to Milan to get her a bagel or something?” Alex teased, not being able to stop herself from shaking with laughter. Kara glared at her, feeling her face heat with embarrassment. “Okay, I’m sorry!”

Her laughter was contagious and soon Kara couldn’t help bursting into giggles as well.

“I’m sure she’s coming because she wants to. It’ll be fine! I promise not to make any bad jokes, okay?”

Kara sighed, looking away.

“Hey.” Alex squeezed her thigh, waiting for Kara to face her. “Is there something else you’re not telling me?” Her eyes narrowed when her sister breathed in, holding the air and puffing her cheeks.

“Maybe.” Kara answered after releasing the air with a blow that made her sister’s hair whoosh.

“Look, I don’t want to pressure you.” Alex placed both her hands on her sister’s biceps. “But there’s this radar, actually it’s called gayd –“Just then the doorbell rang and Kara jumped up.

“I’ll get it!” She shouted, speeding towards the door. “It’s Nia.” She turned around to look at her sister once more, pressing her back against the wall. “We’re playing Risk, I promised her like weeks ago, maybe months!”

“Kara.” Alex sighed, standing up and approaching her. “We don’t have to talk about it, it’s okay.”

“Talk about what? I’m fine, really, it’s fine.”

Alex smiled with affection, tilting her head and probably seeing some of her old self in her sister.

“I know you’re fine.” She took her hand. “I love you, you know?”

Kara pulled her in, hugging her tight.

“I love you, Alex.”

“Aw, you guys are so sweet.” Nia cooed. “Sorry, the door was open.” She was also holding a grocery bag but with an unhealthy amount of Cheetos inside.

“Planning on feeding two Kryptonians?” Alex joked.

“Oh my god, can I have a cookie?” Nia ignored her as she stared at the batch of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.

“Sure.” Kara stuffed an entire one in her mouth, glad she had been literally saved by the doorbell. Had she really been that transparent? It was the first time her sister made any comment of that nature; Kara didn’t think her gaydar actually worked.

Alex and Nia were both already on the couch with beer and cookies by the time Kelly arrived. She had a bottle of wine, and Kara suspected Alex had texted her about it. She really didn’t know if she should say anything about the whole alcohol thing, and Lena may even be suspicious if they weren’t drinking any. She cursed herself for not thinking about it sooner, so much for wanting everything to be perfect.

Kara sat down on the loveseat, deciding to drink a beer before Lena arrived.

“Today’s my day, right?” Nia narrowed her eyes at her. “You promised.”

“Yes, we’re playing Risk tonight.” Kara rolled her eyes as her friend punched up in triumph.

“You’re like a forty year old nerd.” Alex rolled her eyes.

“I’m sorry, this isn’t just any old Risk game.” Nia reached for her bag and took out the box. “This is Risk: Game of Thrones!” She announced dramatically, opening her eyes wide.

“So what’s next? Dungeons and Dragons?” Alex quipped, deadpanned.

“Lena’s here.” Kara announced.

“How do y –” The doorbell rang before Nia could finish the question. “Right.”

Kara stood up and buzzed her in, throwing her unfinished beer in the bin and setting more cookies on the table. She then walked to open the door before Lena could even knock.

“Oh, hi.” Lena smiled, walking inside.

“Hey.” Kara smiled as the rest of the girls greeted her all together from the couch.

“Sorry I’m late, I almost had to kick everyone out of the lab so I could leave.” She explained as Kara helped her out of her coat and hanged it.

“No problem, we were just arguing about board games.” Kara joked.

“Like you could beat me.” Nia was saying as they went to seat on the loveseat together.

“You’re a nerd.”

“Who’s _not_ a nerd in this room?” Kelly interjected.

“Guilty.” Lena muttered.

“This game’s about strategy, aren’t you supposed to like that?”

“I prefer the action.” Alex smirked. 

“You did say you were at your lab on a Saturday afternoon.” Kelly smiled at Lena.

“Nerds don’t know about weekends.” Lena smiled back. “Especially when you’re about to finish one of your projects.”

“Really?” Kara turned sharply to look at her.

“The trials are going amazing, we could be presenting our scan for our newly developed radiotracers in maybe a week.”

“That’s awesome!” Kara squeezed her hand, smiling wide.

“Kara told me a little about your investigation…” Kelly turned fully towards Lena, clearly wanting to start a science conversation.

“Oh god, you were calling _me_ a nerd.” Nia threw a cheeto at Alex’s face. “Look at your girlfriend.”

“She’s not a nerd.” Alex scowled, smiling smugly the next second. “She’s a genius.”

“Are we ordering?” Kara interrupted, picking the cheeto from her sister’s lap and eating it as Alex grimaced in disgust.

“Chinese!” Nia jumped in her seat.

“No, I want pizza. You’re already picking the game.”

“You’re like children today!” Kara scolded them. “We can order both, I want both.” She saw Lena laughing at her from the corner of her eye and smiled as she ordered from her phone app.

“Are we going to go over the rules of the game?” Nia asked, already pushing aside the snacks to make room for her board game.

“At least wait until I have some food in my stomach.” Alex sulked.

“I don’t want to finish this at three am, so maybe it’s better if we start now.” Kara stood up to take the bowls to the kitchen, followed by Lena who took the cookies.

“Get me a beer, please!” Alex pleaded. “Oh Lena, Kelly brought some wine if you prefer.”

“I’ll just have some water, thanks.” Lena smiled to Kara who was looking at her with concern.

“Sorry.” She whispered behind the fridge’s door. “I didn’t know if I should say anything.”

Lena just smiled, reaching to run her hand down Kara’s arm.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay.” They smiled at each other. “Water?” Kara raised the bottle in her hands and Lena nodded.

“I actually quit drinking.” Lena announced as she walked back with her glass of water. “At least for a while.”

“Oh.” Alex said awkwardly. “Well, I’ve actually been there, you know?”

“Yeah, drowning your feelings in alcohol seems like a good idea until it doesn’t.”

“Until you find yourself sleeping in a bathtub and find out it’s not actually your bathroom.”

“What?” Kara looked at her sister in horror.

“Nevermind.”

“Oh, pizza!” Kara jumped in excitement a few seconds before the doorbell rang.

She took the elevator and found both the pizza and Chinese delivery bikes at her door. Once she walked inside her apartment with all the food, Nia and Alex were arguing again, this time about game of thrones, and Kelly and Lena were talking about science again. Kara smiled, glad that they seemed to be getting along even better than during their previous game nights. Kelly had been new to the group back then, and even though she wasn’t really a shy person, Lena and her hadn’t really had that many interactions before Lena had stopped coming to game night.

With Nia explaining the game to them so animatedly and with so much food on the table, Kara soon forgot about her uneasiness. Lena was by her side eating and laughing and didn’t seem at all uncomfortable. She knew she had decided to come on her own free will, but she guessed she had to see it to believe it.

About an hour later, her army had been defeated and she watched in amusement as Alex started getting the hang of the game and tried to occupy her territories with ports with reinforcements, looking at the board in concentration when it wasn’t her turn. Kelly lost next and stood to get them all refills, taking the chance to stretch and bringing more Cheetos at Nia’s request. Lena was silently gaining more castles while Nia and Alex bickered, and Kara could see her little smile as she gained a new territory and conquered all the blue ones. Kara looked at Lena’s cards and beamed as Lena made a cute excited sound whenever she won an attack with the dices.

“I thought Alex didn’t take the game seriously.” Kelly said lowly, nodding towards her girlfriend who had a concentrated scowl on her face.

“She’s competitive.” Kara smiled.

“Lena looks like the silent conqueror.”

“Yeah.” Kara looked at her as she rolled the dices against Alex and drew all six. Alex scowled but didn’t argue like she would with Nia, just rolled her eyes as Lena occupied her territory with a smirk, sitting a little straighter. Kara grinned.

“You seem happy.” Kelly smiled, and Kara turned around to find her watching her as she looked at Lena. She blushed.

“It’s nice to have all of you together again.” She shrugged, not being able to stop herself from glancing at Lena again.

“I’m glad she finally came.” Kelly whispered.

“Me too.” Kara smiled softly.

“Yes!” Nia punched up as she gained a new territory and drew a card, gasping. “Valar Morghulis!”

“What?” Kelly laughed.

“Game’s over.” Alex clarified.

“Now we count all our points!” Nia clapped in excitement.

“I thought the game ended when one of you conquered the map.” Kelly shrugged.

“You didn’t pay attention to the rules.” Nia scowled at her.

“It’s been two and a half hours, it’s better this way.” Kara rubbed her eyes, leaning to her left and resting her head on Lena’s shoulder, who stroked her arm briefly in comfort.

“Lena won.” Alex announced while Nia grumbled about beginners luck.

Lena smiled, raising her arms and stretching while Kelly helped Nia put away the game pieces. Kara sat straighter, suddenly very aware of her surroundings. Alex stood to get the last beer from the fridge.

“Next time we can play the domination game!” Nia clapped.

“Please, no.” Alex whined.

“Oh, shut up. I’ve never seen you so concentrated on a game. Just accept that you liked it!”

“I’m just competitive.” Alex shrugged, sitting down next to Kelly and putting an arm around her shoulders. Kara stared at them and froze as she felt Lena lay back on the couch, which made their legs press together, and rest a hand on Kara’s leg. She discreetly moved her own hand to rest atop the one on her leg, which was cold. Alex and Kelly were too preoccupied to notice.

“Hey, so, it’s one am.” Nia yawned. “I think I should head home.”

“Us too, you want a ride?” Alex offered.

“On your motorcycle? I don’t think so.” She made a face.

“I came here on my car.” Kelly smiled, holding onto Alex’s hand to get up from the couch. 

“Oh, then sure. Yes, please.”

Kara turned to look at Lena, who smiled at her. They communicated silently, Kara with a questioning smile and Lena with an imperceptible nod.

“I’ll open the door for you guys.” Kara stood up, walking out to call the elevator as her friends said their goodbyes.

She came back to her apartment to find Lena washing the bowls and glasses they’d used.

“Hey, you don’t have to do that. You know I can do it in a literal second.”

“Show off.” Lena teased over her shoulder.

“Are we gonna finish watching The Good Place? Or are you too tired?” She asked, leaning her hip against the kitchen counter next to the sink.

“I’m not too tired.” Lena smiled.

“Great, I’ll make us tea.” Kara beamed, filling the cups and heating the water directly with her powers. She turned around to find Lena looking at her with an amused smirk and a raised eyebrow. She grinned sheepishly. “I’m not trying to show off.”

“Uh-huh.” Lena turned around and walked towards the couch.

“I’m not, I swear!” Except she totally was. She sat down next to Lena and placed the chocolate tablet on her leg.

“What? Kara!” She picked it up and turned to look at her sharply. “You didn’t have to get this.”

Except she was smiling so brightly Kara thought it had been a very good decision.

“What? It’s good.” She shrugged. “And I want some.”

“Of course!” Lena tore the wrap and offered it to her so she could take a piece. Kara waited until Lena had a taste and closed her eyes in delight before she ate her half with a smile.

“I knew she was going to fall in love.” Lena commented as they watched Eleanor realize her feelings for Chidi.

“Really? Even though they seem so different?”

“I hate it but I always know what’s going to happen in movies and TV shows.” She shrugged. “Even books sometimes, the plot becomes predictable.”

“Well, don’t spoil anything.” Kara joked, bumping Lena’s shoulder with her own.

“I hate spoilers even more.” Lena yawned. “Too bad I can’t extrapolate my predictions to real life.” She raised her legs on the couch and tucked them under herself, resting her head on Kara’s shoulder and linking their arms.

Kara could feel herself getting warmer, if that was even possible. Lena was relaxed, leaning her weight against her and she could hear every intake of breath, which calmed her. Contrary to when she thought about being close to Lena and got nervous, when it actually happened, she relaxed. Her shoulders sagged and only then did she realize the tension she had been holding. She leaned her head to the side and rested her cheek on Lena’s hair, which smelled so good. She didn’t realize Lena was holding her hand until she felt her thumb moving up and down slowly. It was so easy, being like this, it was only hard inside her mind. When she opened her eyes again, the TV screen was asking her if she was still there and Lena was breathing deeply by her side, still leaning against her. She turned her head as best as she could, her friend was so peacefully asleep it broke her heart to wake her. But she couldn’t leave her sleeping on the couch, could she? It was probably four am, after all.

Slowly, Kara moved her arm so she could wrap it around Lena’s shoulders and moved her other arm to hold Lena’s legs from behind her knees. She slowly floated the both of them towards her bedroom and laid her friend on one side of the bed, then covered her with the thick blanket that rested at the foot of the bed. Kara almost laughed; she couldn’t believe Lena was such a heavy sleeper. Then again she had been working non-stop and tonight they had stayed awake past two am.

Kara lay down on the other side of the bed, resting both hands over her stomach and trying to get back to sleep. But she was painfully aware of the body lying next to her, her friend’s heartbeat, her breathing, her warmth and her scent. She turned to her side. Lena had uncovered one of her hands and it was resting between them, and she was smiling softly in her dreams. She was beautiful, it wasn’t the first time she noticed, but lately every time she thought about it she felt an ache inside her chest. It wasn’t bad, but it was a little painful because it felt awfully like yearning. They had never been so close but it didn’t seem like enough. She couldn’t ask more of Lena, could she? They had never been so open with each other, and yet she felt, deep down, they hadn’t said everything. But they were both two people learning to talk about their feelings and not sweep them under the rug, she reasoned. Except some things were so big they couldn’t be hidden anywhere, like the thought of kissing Lena when she looked down from her cute nose to her lips. She pressed her lips together and bit them down, once that thought crossed her mind it was all she could think about.

How long had she felt like this and just ignored it? Was it really something new? Right before Mon-El, when she had just met Lena, she couldn’t help but admire her beauty and be flustered around her. She had mistaken it for admiration, Lena was after all a powerful and confident woman and she didn’t need a supersuit to present herself that way. And after she had gotten over her heartbreak, when James was dating Lena, she had made some bad decisions out of misplaced anger, like asking him to spy on his girlfriend. She could no longer assure there wasn’t some jealousy involved, but back then she would have never admitted to being that kind of person. She had felt something akin to relief when they had broken up, but she had made herself believe it was because he wasn’t really good enough for Lena, and she didn’t want to see her suffer. It was amazing, how powerful a thing denial could be. It was knowing she could lose Lena’s friendship forever what made her feelings snowball, roll to the forefront of her mind and knock her down like a punch in the gut when she could no longer ignore them.

She watched the peaceful expression on Lena’s face being tainted with a small frown before her eyes blinked open.

“Hey.” Kara whispered. Lena squeezed her eyes and slid her palm over the mattress.

“Oh.” She cleared her throat. “I fell asleep.”

“Me too.” Kara smiled softly. “Is this okay?”

Lena took a deep breath and nodded, smiling. She opened her eyes and they stared at each other.

“Can’t sleep?” Kara shook her head. Lena frowned. “Did you have a nightmare?”

“No.” Kara shook her head again, smiling. “Did you have fun?” She asked after a few seconds of quiet smiles.

“I did.” Lena burrowed deeper inside the covers, making herself small. “I’ve never played Risk before. Or watched Game of Thrones, but don’t tell Nia that.”

“I won’t.” Kara chuckled quietly, staring at the way Lena’s nose scrunched up cutely. “I’m so happy you came.” She blurted out before she could help herself.

“Me too.”

Kara felt her heartbeat picking up the longer they smiled at each other. She almost felt breathless.

“I…” She took a deep breath. “I’ve been so happy, so relieved. Ever since I… got you back.” She bit her lip. “I’m so glad I haven’t lost you.”

“Kara, I…” Lena blinked rapidly, and she could hear her heart picking up. “You’ve helped me, so much.” Her hand resting on the mattress took one of Kara’s. “You make me happy.” Kara let out a breathless chuckle as they stared at each other. “All the time.” Lena dared. “Even… when I’m not with you, I just… think about you…” She shrugged.

“I know, I…” Kara laughed softly, licking her lips as she reached to tuck a lock of hair behind Lena’s ear. “I think about you at all times and… I… want to be with you.” She couldn’t help but blurt it all out. “And whenever something good happens, I want to tell you about it. And when I’m sad I just want you with me.” She squeezed the hand on her own and scooted closer.

“Do you…” Lena inhaled sharply, licking her lips and dropping her eyes from Kara’s down to her lips, shaking her head. “I feel the same.” She reached for Kara’s cheek and cupped it shakily.

“Lena… can I…?” Lena didn’t answer, instead she leaned forward and pressed their lips together so softly Kara could feel every inch meeting, even though it lasted a second before they pulled apart to look at each other.

Kara smiled, because she had never seen such amazement on Lena’s face, because she could see the gold mixed with green in her eyes and because a moment later they were both leaning forward and meeting in the middle. This time she also cupped Lena’s face, her skin was the softest she had ever felt, and so was her hair and the back of her neck, and she could have sworn her lips tasted different when they stretched in a smile, still pressing against her own. She felt her fingers tangle in the little hairs at the back of her neck, how the muscles beneath her fingers stretched as Lena leaned even further, their knees bumping and her shaky hand brushing Kara’s hair back and cupping the back of her head.

“You’re so soft.” Kara said in wonder, feeling her skin rise in goosebumps when Lena hid her face underneath her chin and her breathing tickled her skin. Kara sneaked her arm beneath Lena so she could hold her against her, her other hand stroking her hair, then her back, and holding tight. She could feel lips pressing softly against her throat and beamed. “You hiding?” Lena nodded, but she could feel her lips stretching in a smile. “Is it too soon to tell you how beautiful I think you are?”

“Oh God.” Lena breathed out, leaning back to look at her. Their eyes met and Kara could see how the specks of gold shone bright. Lena opened her mouth to speak, then frowned, resolving to just express her feelings by stroking Kara’s chin with her index finger and kissing her again, this time trapping her bottom lip between her own.

Kara didn’t think she had ever been kissed with such intention and care, no one had ever held her face so tenderly, like she could really be fragile. Their bodies pressed together entirely and she felt wrapped in Lena’s body heat and scent, she could only hear her thunderous heartbeat and the little sounds that escaped the back of her throat. All her senses were overrun as they kissed until Lena let out a little squeak and held on tightly to her body. They were floating a few inches over the bed.

“Oh jeez.” Kara blushed, letting their bodies drop softly on the mattress. Lena shook with silent laughter and soon they were both cackling. “Sorry!”

“Kara.” Lena cupped her face, still smiling. “You’re sweet.” She pecked her lips. “And also very beautiful. And I’ve wanted to do this for a while.”

“Really?” Lena nodded. “Me too.” Kara bit her lip, taking a deep breath and almost getting lost in the way those green eyes shined so bright. “It was getting hard for me to think about anything else.” Lena ducked her head bashfully and she thought she might melt.

“I know the feeling.” She smiled, running a hand down Kara’s arm until their hands joined. “This…” She sighed. “I can’t explain how… right this feels.”

“Yeah.” Kara nodded. “I feel like… everything has been leading up to this, and I’ve grown so much, both of us have, just so we could get to this moment and do it right. I mean… I don’t want to turn back from tonight.”

“Me neither.” Lena shook her head, moving her hands up to stroke Kara’s neck. They locked eyes. “Kara, I… I’m not so good with words.” Lena bit her lip, eyes dropping to Kara’s lips. “I’m better at showing.” And with a fluid motion, she moved over Kara with one knee on either side of her hips and kissed her.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara and Lena deal with bad guys, bad feelings and also some very, very good ones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy supercorp sunday everyone!  
> The first of many without our girls. It's sad, but my mental health is also thankful. I don't know about you peeps but this season has been stressful for me, not enjoyable after the first few episodes. I kept myself updated via the internet and didn't even watch the second half of the season, just the 100th episode. I'm glad it's over and I hope our faves get some justice after the way their characters were treated this season. Gotta learn from my girl Kara Zor-El and don't give up hope for season six! I hope we get our real girls back, when possible. I would love to see more scenes of Katie with the rest of the female cast. Please!! 
> 
> But! This season also inspired me to write, so for me it had a positive side as well. I have a few ideas that maybe will transform into a story that I can publish over here. No promises but I hope I can deliver during this long ass hiatus. I know I will be needing content to survive: from fanfic writers, creators over on tumblr and twitter, and fanart, which is one of my greatest comforts. I admire those who draw supercorp, if you are reading this, thank you so, so much! 
> 
> So, about the chapter...  
> Oh my god, it's a whirlwind of emotions! Beware!  
> There are so many issues I feel are not being addressed correctly, if at all, in relation to Kara as an individual, and I hope I brought some light into that here. I only wrote what I wish would have been discussed in canon.  
> Sorry for any mistakes, I almost memorized this chapter I read it over so many times.  
> And so it ends! My first supercorp fiction. I hope you like it.

It was almost seven, but Kara found herself once again staring blankly at the unfinished document in front of her, unable to concentrate. Except for once, it wasn’t worry, nightmares or anxiety plaguing her mind. Instead, she was trying to suppress a smile in case anyone walking by could see the hearts and rainbows that threatened to come out of her ears. She couldn’t stop thinking about the softest lips she had ever felt against her own. She felt silly with the conscious effort she had to put into not floating off her chair. If she believed in such a thing, she would already be pinching her arm to see if it had been all a dream.

She closed her eyes, remembering soft hands running through her hair, lips smiling against her mouth and she wondered if it was too rushed if she were to call Lena right now and ask if they could see each other. Just yesterday she had woken up with a warm and sweet smelling body next to her, Lena’s hand resting on her bicep and dark hair obscuring her face. She had reached out to tuck it behind her ear and it had made Lena blink awake with a slow forming smile, followed by a quick forming blush that had made her hide her face against the mattress. Kara had felt a rush inside her chest at that sight, one that replicated itself right now with just the memory of it.

It was vertiginous, once she had allowed herself to feel everything she had bottled up inside regarding Lena, how quickly those feelings had amplified and taken over her chest and her mind until she found it hard to think about anything else. And to think that Lena felt the same… she squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her lips together to stop herself from squealing. It was decidedly uncharacteristic of her, but she just… felt different. She couldn’t remember ever feeling like this over someone. She had been in love once, and thought for a while that she would never again feel so strongly about a person, but with Lena… It all felt different. It felt bigger, insurmountable. She supposed it was normal, and this feeling inside her chest that overwhelmed her would subside to something more manageable, a little less like something that threatened to explode, once time went on.

Everything was new, but it also felt like a long time coming. She remembered the dread she once felt when thinking about Lena finding out the truth and turning away from her forever; then how losing Lena had felt like the world lacked sunshine, how she was never able to be truly content during all that time they were apart and worse, at odds with each other.

Lena had become, slowly and silently, one of the most important people in her life. It had been Kara who hadn’t given up until she let her walls down and allowed for them to become friends, unknowingly tethering their lives together from that point forward. _Quantum entanglement._ Yes, she knew what that was and remembered how stunned she had been the day Lena had mentioned it. How it had struck something inside of her she had let lay dormant for a very long time afterwards. It all made sense now that she had opened her eyes to the reality that, yes, they belonged together. All their hits and misses pushed them closer, their paths crossing until they were intricately connected.

“What is up with you lately?” Nia’s hands were perched on her hips, elbows out and head to the side, making a curtain of dark hair frame her amused expression.

“What?” Kara looked sharply at her, a blush spreading from her face all the way down to her neck. She pressed her lips together to try and hide her smile.

“I’ve been standing here for over a minute!” She threw her hands up, and then added with a whisper. “Aren’t you supposed to have superpowers?”

“I am, I mean, I do!” She fumbled. “I mean… what’s up?”

“I said it’s late, aren’t you getting home?” Nia narrowed her eyes at her. “Is there something wrong?”

“Nope.” Kara readjusted her glasses, pressing her lips together.

“You are terrible at lying.” Nia deadpanned. “How do you even pull the secret identity thing?”

“Not so gracefully.” Kara scratched the back of her neck and grimaced.

“Anything you wish to tell me?” Nia wiggled her eyebrows up and down suggestively.

Kara felt her heartbeat pick up. She couldn’t know, there wasn’t any reason to suspect Kara and Lena were more than friends, at least for the time being… They had only kissed two nights ago! She was just being paranoid, and why would she think about Lena in the first place? And exactly how good was Nia’s gaydar?

“Kara?” Nia huffed. “Unbelievable!”

“Sorry!” Kara stood up, rounding her desk to stand next to her friend. “I’ve been distracted…”

“No kidding.” Nia rolled her eyes, looking at her expectantly the next moment and waiting for her explanation to go on.

“It’s…” She bit her lip. She hadn’t exactly discussed whether or not to disclose the change in her relationship with Lena, it had been just two nights ago that they had kissed, they hadn’t actually discussed a lot besides love confessions in between lip locks. “Lena…” She trailed off, barely getting the chance to appreciate Nia’s wide eyes and grin before the sound of her watch made her heart drop to her stomach. “It’s Lena.” Kara announced before taking off without a second thought.

She barely had time to think before she found herself crashing into Lena’s lab at L Corp. The speed of her flight had probably broken windows, but that didn’t register in her mind. One second she spotted Lena hiding behind a tumbled down desk, the next she spotted a man in a suit charging towards her, just in time for her to step aside and make him tumble and crash against a wall.

“Get out of here!” She screamed at Lena, speeding towards the suited man, intending to trap him against the wall. But he was fast, jumping high and punching the ceiling right above Lena. Kara rushed to her, moving her just in time before the roof crashed down right where she had been a second before.

“You won’t stop me, Supergirl!” The man’s voice resonated loudly.

Kara barely had time to help Lena stand on her feet before the man charged towards them.

“Duck!” Kara yelled, propelling forwards and crashing against him. The suit was so hard it actually hurt to collide against it.

“The lies are over!” He bellowed, charging towards her and punching her stomach, making Kara double over, out of air. “Lex Luthor will be a free man and aliens will have to run out of _our_ world!”

He sped towards a machine on the far end of the lab.

“No!” Lena tried to stop him, but he grabbed her wrist and pulled on her arm, making her fall harshly to the ground.

“Lena!” Kara screamed, rushing to gather her in her arms.

“The human race will be enhanced; aliens won’t have power over us!” He laughed.

In the second after helping Lena to her feet once more, Kara rushed towards him, but he held out his hand and easily twisted her arm before she could punch him. Wide eyed, Kara turned on her side, lifting her leg and kicking the side of his suit, but it only caused her pain and didn’t move him an inch.

“This is just a taste of what the world will be like once I get humans to their rightful place, the top of the food chain!” He cackled. “Now leave me, I have work to do!” He used the hand not holding onto Kara’s arm to punch her and sent her flying against the wall. Before her back hit it, he was already speeding up towards the sky and flying off with Lena’s machine.

“Kara!” Lena rushed towards her, crouching down next to her and reaching for her arm. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay.” Kara squeezed her eyes for a second, gathering herself. “Oh my god, Lena!” She rose to her knees in front of her, holding onto her shoulders and stroking down her arms. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” One of her hands cupped Lena’s face so she could look at her properly, the other moving to brush drywall off her forehead and hair.

“My hand hurts.” They both looked down at Lena’s left hand, clutched against her chest. Kara used her x-ray vision and grunted.

“Oh god, it’s broken.” She moaned, a pained expression like it was her own hand.

“It’s not that bad.” Lena tried to play it down, despite the rush of pain that came over her once the adrenaline subsided.

“Come here.” Kara stood up, grabbing both of Lena’s elbows to help her up. “Let’s get you to the DEO, have someone look at it.”

“Kara, wait.” Lena rested her open palm against the House of EL symbol on Kara’s chest. “Thank you.”

Kara smiled painfully, cupping Lena’s cheek for a few seconds.

“Are you okay?” Lena nodded and stepped into her personal space, hand trailing up until it was cupping the back of her neck. Kara bent her knees and scooped her up. “Let’s go.”

They rushed towards the DEO building, Kara mindful that she was carrying an injured human with her this time, but still managed to get there in less than two minutes.

“Supergirl!” One of the agents exclaimed as soon as she landed on the balcony.

She rushed towards the medical wing, just as her sister poked her head at hearing her name.

“What happened?” Alex exclaimed, turning aside to let Kara through.

“Someone attacked L Corp.” Kara announced. “She’s hurt.”

“Kara, you can put me down.” Lena said awkwardly.

“Right!” Kara blushed, moving to lay Lena down on a stretcher instead of letting her stand.

Lena huffed, sitting down on the mattress and arranging her hair.

“What’s wrong?” Alex approached her, grabbing her outstretched hand delicately.

“It’s broken.” Kara announced with a grimace.

“Okay, why don’t I treat this while you explain to me what happened?”

“I was working on my lab.” Lena tried to conceal her pain as Alex stretched her wrist so she could use her x-ray gun to see the injury. “And suddenly there was a crash, Greg Dunst blasted a wall with this… this suit.” She closed her eyes with a sigh. “He stole one of the scans we were working on…”

“What can he do with it?” Alex frowned as her fingers pressed around the swelling area.

“It’s not ready…” She shook her head with a frown. “It’s supposed to detect anomalies and reconnect neural circuits in the brain. But he said… he wants to rewire people’s brains. Give them powers… telepathy…”

“Can he do that?” Kara asked in alarm.

“We’re not yet able to repair neurotransmitters during their binding process, which is basically our main goal, so…” She shrugged her right shoulder. “But if he’s with that group of lunatics that wants to set my brother free… they were already able to alter a virus and use it to attack you.” Lena grimaced, both at the memory and at Alex’s grip on her wrist.

“Okay, you ready?” Alex gripped her arm with both hands.

Lena looked away, feeling Kara’s sudden proximity she reached out to squeeze her arm with her right hand. Alex twisted and pulled and pain shot through Lena’s entire arm all the way up to her shoulder, making her breathe in sharply.

“There, very good.” Alex nodded. “I’ll get a splint, wait right here. Kara?” She reached out for her sister’s hand and instructed her to hold Lena’s hand and forearm. “Hold on.”

“Does it hurt?” Kara met her eyes. Lena shook her head, a little stunned at their sudden proximity. “I’m sorry.” She frowned.

“It’s not your fault.” Lena smiled.

“Except it is a little.”

“What?” Lena scowled, sitting straighter once she spotted Alex walking back to them.

“Okay, here it is.” Alex smiled, looking up to find both Lena and Kara with frowns and pressed lips. “Uh, so… the bad guy? What else do we have on him?”

“His suit. I wasn’t strong enough to punch him or fast enough to outsmart him. It seemed indestructible.”

“Okay, that’s not good. And Lena, why do you think he’s part of that group of lunatics that wanted to kill Kara?”

“When he showed up at the lab, he said he wasn’t going to let me ruin his plans again. He had tried to disguise himself as an investor at first, and then he crashed our fundraiser and tried to steal information from my associates.”

“Oh god, it’s _that_ guy?” Kara grimaced. “I can’t believe he beat me in a fight.”

“It looked very much like my brother’s suit.” Lena frowned. “Except the material it was made of…” She trailed off. “And he also said Supergirl wouldn’t get out of this alive _this time_.”

“He wants to free Lex, wants to rid the Earth of aliens, we have to stop him.” Kara started pacing, wriggling her hands. “But I’m not strong enough to beat him.”

“I’ll start searching the intel we had on the men we captured. Maybe there is information about him that we missed before, when we didn’t even know he existed.” Alex walked out towards her office once she received Kara’s nod of approval.

“All L Corp devices have trackers on them. I can locate it and see at least where he has my equipment stored.” Lena stood from the stretcher to stand next to Kara.

“We need something we can beat him with before we ambush him.” Kara reasoned as she walked beside Lena to one of the computers.

“This will take just a minute.” Lena said almost to herself as she sat down and logged in. “We’ll figure it out, don’t worry. We have time, he won’t be able to modify anything overnight, it could take days. Here it is.” She pressed a key and the location flashed on the wide screen in front of them. “Kara?” Lena frowned, turning around when she didn’t answer.

Kara was clutching the table behind her, head down and lips pressed together.

“What’s wrong?” Lena moved quickly towards her, her good hand and the splinter holding Kara’s biceps. “Kara, breathe.” Lena rested her right hand against Kara’s heaving chest. “Deep breaths.” She instructed, following Kara’s eyes until her teary gaze fixed on hers.

“I’m sorry.” Kara hastily wiped her tears with her palms, breath still labored. Her shoulders shook as soon as Lena wrapped her arms around her.

“We’re okay.” Lena said into her ear, stroking her hair and holding her while she cried. “We’ll figure it out, Kara, don’t worry.”

“He hurt you, right in front of me.” Kara managed to explain, still holding onto Lena’s waist and clutching the fabric of her blouse.

“You came to save me in ten seconds flat.” Lena pulled their upper bodies away so she could look her in the eye. “You saved me, and now we’re going to figure out how to fight him.” She assured her.

“This came so close to being my nightmare.” Kara’s face twisted.

“What?” Lena frowned.

“The people I love, getting hurt. It’s hard for me to think that at any time I might not be able to save you or that I will be too late.” Kara ran her hands up to Lena’s shoulders, her right one moving higher to her neck. “Or that someone will find out how much you mean to me and use that against me, hurting you. It’s my biggest fear.”

“Kara…” Lena shook her head, reaching up to wipe stray tears from Kara’s face. “You shouldn’t think like that. There will always be peril and I’m sure you will always be there to save us.”

“I know, but what if…” She trailed off, taking a deep breath to stop the tears from flowing and looking to her side in anger. “You’re right. This shouldn’t happen to me.”

“You are allowed to be scared.” Lena took her chin between her fingers and made their eyes connect. “You’re just a person, Kara. You’re allowed to be vulnerable.”

“I’m supposed to be the hero.” Kara frowned, but her eyes lost their anger the more they looked at each other, looking sad instead.

“You _are_. But you’re also allowed to have fears. It’s no use hiding them away, believe me, I’ve tried.” A hint of a smile formed on Kara’s face.

“I’m scared that something might happen to you because of me.” She whispered, absentmindedly stroking her thumb across a mole on Lena’s neck.

“Honey, I’m a Luthor.” Lena smirked. “I’m always in danger. But with you…” She traced her right hand along the golden holding the cape to Supergirl’s suit. “I could only be safer, and help _you_ be safer.” Her hand ran down Kara’s arm until their hands joined. “It’ll go full circle. I protect you, you protect me. We protect each other.”

“While I wish that would never have to happen…” Kara’s smile reached her eyes this time. “I’m happy we have each other.”

“Me too.” Lena bit her lip, briefly looking down at their joined hands before looking back up to Kara’s eyes. “I’d feel better if I could officially work on improving your suit.”

“Officially?”

“Well, I’ve had some free time….” Lena grinned sheepishly, using her good hand to grab her phone from the back pocket of her jeans. She took a step back from Kara, remembering where they were. “Look.” She showed her a sketch of a suit she had been toying with.

“Still with pants, I approve.” Kara joked.

“Once we beat this silly man I might get to work with the material of his suit. I know weapons are not your thing but maybe I could work with an armor, sort of like the kryptonite suit –“

“Weapons?” Kara frowned. Lena looked up from her rambling, already recognizing the look that was forming on Kara’s face.

“What is it?”

“There _is_ a weapon we can use.” Kara smiled. “You’re a genius!”

“What? I didn’t…” Lena trailed off, confused as Kara took her good hand and tugged her along.

“Alex! I think there is something we can use!” Kara barged into her office. Alex looked up, looking first at Kara, then Lena, then their joined hands. She raised her eyebrows.

“Do go on.” She smirked.

Kara let go of Lena’s hand but otherwise ignored her sister’s amused stare.

“Vartrox’s axe.”

“Oh.” Alex stood up in surprise. “That’s right! We were able to reconstruct it and… wait, where is it?” Her face fell just as quickly. “Don’t tell me it got stolen with the other weapons and I am just remembering its existence.”

“Nope.” Kara grinned. “After we rebuilt it J’onn gave it to me for safekeeping. I can pick it up while you finish your research.”

“I found the location of my stolen scan.” Lena informed Alex. “Maybe Dunst is there or it could just be a deposit. Although I’d take my chances they are working on it as we speak. They know we’re onto them.”

“Alright.” Alex nodded. “I’ll call Nia and J’onn while Kara fetches the axe.”

“Actually…” Kara turned towards Lena, toying with her fingers and biting her lip. “Could you come with me?”

“Uh, of course.” Lena nodded.

“Right.” Alex walked past them out of the office. “I’ll leave you two to it.”

“Does she…” Lena watched her leave with a curious expression. “Know… you know…” She smiled bashfully.

“I haven’t told her anything.” Kara smiled, unable to stop herself from walking into Lena’s personal space and holding onto her hand. “But she did try to ask Saturday night.” Their eyes met.

“Oh.” Lena answered distractedly, eyes lowering to Kara’s lips.

“We can talk about that later.” Kara took a step closer, bodies now pressing together. “Come with me?” Lena nodded. “Okay, you’re gonna need a coat.”

“Where are we going?” Lena let herself be tugged by Kara’s hand on her own. They took one of the DEO’s winter coats.

“The fortress.” Lena looked up after struggling a little fitting the splint through the coat’s arm. “Is that okay?” Kara bit her lip.

“Yeah.” Lena breathed out, nodding. “I can go with you.”

“Good.” A relieved smile formed on Kara’s face.

Lena once again wrapped her right arm across Kara’s shoulders and let herself be carried at full speed through the night sky, hiding her face on Kara’s neck as the air started getting colder. Even whilst flying, she could feel the warmth radiating off of her, couldn’t help but press her cold nose to the soft skin there and actually felt Kara chuckle. Her body threatened to tremble once they landed on the ice, but she wasn’t sure if it was the cold or her nerves.

They were of course in the best of terms possible right now, but the memories of this place were still vivid, were the scenario of some of the regrets that played over and over in her mind on bad days. She couldn’t help but link the memories of this place to those of her brother manipulating her, to the dark spiral she had been falling at the time and the way she had used kryptonite against her best friend in the name of retribution. Now, once again, one of her inventions was being used for evil in the name of Lex, and she felt that anger rise suddenly inside her.

“Come.” Kara took her hand and they walked inside. Her eyes were searching as they roamed Lena’s face with concern. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m just… frustrated.” She shook her head. She took in Kara’s open expression, making herself remember how relieving it always was to share her feelings with her. She took a deep breath, stepping closer to Kara. “Once more my work is being stolen for evil. It just… makes me wonder… doubt myself.”

“Lena, it’s not your fault.” Kara said earnestly, resting both hands on Lena’s shoulders.

“I know that.” Lena nodded, looking down and taking a deep breath.

“There will always be bad people, but they can't stop you from doing good.” Kara ducked her head to try and meet her eyes. “All you ever do is fight to make the world a better place. They can't take that away from you.”

“You think so?” Lena looked up and joined their gazes. “You think that of me?”

“Of course. It’s one of the things I… I love about you.” She finished with rushed breath.

“You make me a better person.” Lena whispered, taking a step forward and pressing their bodies together.

“That is all you.” Kara smiled. “You _are_ a good person, always have been.”

 _Kara Danvers believes in you._ Lena suddenly remembered Supergirl’s words, when she had been the only one to believe Lena was good even with all the evidence pointing to the contrary. Kara had always believed in her and stood up for her. And she was right, she couldn’t let the bad guys win. Supergirl had always been the solid reminder that the world could be a better place and that it was worth it to fight in the name of hope. She had moved to National City in the hopes of getting Supergirl’s approval, to prove she could do good and that a Super and a Luthor could coexist, and without meaning to ended up with a far better result. She had gained her trust, her friendship, her deference. Her love. And now, working together, they were an unstoppable force.

Lena moved forward and rested her forehead against Kara’s collarbone with a sigh, arms moving to wrap around her waist. She felt Kara’s hands brushing her hair back before wrapping around her shoulders and pressing their bodies even closer, resting her cheek atop Lena’s head.

“Thank you for coming with me.” She whispered. “I want to do right by this place. I know we haven’t created the best of memories here, but I want to change that.” Lena moved just enough so that their eyes met. “I… I need you here.” Her lips trembled and Lena moved her right hand to cup her neck. “I’m sorry I’m so sensitive today.” Kara tried to laugh it off.

“Don’t ever be sorry for that. Besides…” She moved her hand down towards Kara’s chest. “I like to be the strong one once in a while.”

“You always are.” Kara laughed softly, genuinely this time. “This place… It’s the only thing I have left from my world.” She shook her head, moving a hand to press against Lena’s on her chest. “I wish I could have… taken you to Argo. Make you see… just how beautiful –” Her voice broke and she squeezed her eyes to stop the tears from falling.

“I’m so sorry, Kara.” Lena leaned on the tip of her toes to hug Kara tightly.

“I need your help.” Kara whispered brokenly. “Once all of this is over, I… I can’t keep having these nightmares, and this… sudden anguish that doesn’t let me breathe.”

“Of course Kara, anything.” Lena cupped her face.

“I want to be fully happy. I’ve already lost so much, my world, my biological family and…” She looked down. “I want to feel happy about us without having to constantly worry or feel guilty about the danger I might put you in. I’m done with escaping pain, I want to face it.”

“Okay.” Lena nodded, trying hard not to join in on the tears. She used her thumb to wipe the wetness from under Kara’s eye. “We can look for someone for you to talk to, and we can… we’ll work on being happy.” She chuckled, smiling wider when Kara smiled as well. “After all that’s happened, we deserve that.”

“And we have one advantage.” Kara wiped her tears and pressed Lena’s body closer to hers by the waist.

“Oh? What’s that?” Lena asked, a little breathless.

“Each other.” Kara smiled, laughing softly at one of her favorites reactions from Lena, were she squeezed her eyes shut and scrunched up her nose in a bashful smile. “See? It’s already working.” She bit her lip.

“Kara…” Lena sighed, staring into her eyes and then lower to her lips. “Can I kiss you?”

Instead of a verbal answer, Kara leaned forward and pressed their lips together once, twice and then a third time, cupping Lena’s neck with one hand and brushing her hair back with the other. They parted and she tucked shiny black hair behind her left ear. She could feel Lena’s pulse accelerating beneath her hand and was sure her own heart was doing summersaults inside her chest.

“These are the new memories I’ve been thinking about making here.” Kara grinned.

“I’m sure.” Lena smirked. “I’ll be happy to help. Perhaps later when there’s not an annoying man to catch.”

“Oh right.” Kara smiled sheepishly, but still didn’t move. “Thank you. I needed this.”

“Any time.” Lena breathed out, closing her eyes as their lips met again. They stood in the middle of the fortress kissing for a few minutes before she felt Kara’s smile against her lips.

“I should get that axe.” She walked away from Lena but turned her head as she went. “The sooner we finish with him, the sooner we can get back to that.”

Lena felt like she could giggle. If kissing and flirting with Kara and helping her fight the bad guys was going to be her life now, she thought everything they had gone through had been worth it. Despite the lies and the hurt, they had found a way back to each other; they were stronger together, as they had proven time and time again when they had worked together against evil in the past.

“I like how you think.” Lena smirked, ignoring the butterflies in her stomach for the time being.

Nia and J’onn were waiting for them alongside Alex when they arrived back at the DEO with the axe.

“We were able to hack the security cameras at the location Lena found for us.” Alex informed them. “We think that’s him working with those men.” She pointed to one of the cameras.

Greg Dunst seemed to be having a heated argument with another man, pointing at Lena’s machine and throwing his hands up. Several men were working on the scene.

“That’s him.” Lena confirmed.

“It doesn’t seem like they’re making much progress at the moment.” Nia rolled her eyes as the man stomped away.

“We shouldn’t waste any more time.” Kara looked at J’onn. “We should ambush them now before they can make any kind of progress.”

“I swear I will personally punch them if they harm my equipment.” Lena was staring at a man on the screen who seemed to be examining her scan. “My team and I put so much work and effort on that.”

“We’ll stop them.” Kara assured her. “I promise.”

“Alright, let’s get a tactical team to join us so we can arrest those men before they try to get away.” Alex looked at J’onn, who nodded. “Kara and Nia will take down Dunst while the rest of us capture all of them. We can finally put an end to this.”

Nia followed Alex and J’onn as they went to gather the agents and equipment. Kara was staring intently at the screen showing several rooms of the apparently abandoned factory they seemed to be using as a lair. In one room, several people were working on computers while others worked on Lena’s equipment in another room. Greg Dunst was pacing back and forth and seemingly shouting.

These were the people Kara had been investigating, the anti-alien folks who wanted to rid the Earth of beings like her. She knew they hadn’t just disappeared after Agent Liberty, they had been lurking in the shadows, waiting for a new leader to follow. Despite Alex’s words, she knew prejudice wouldn’t end once they captured these people, it would always be there, and it was her job to protect aliens and humans alike from those who couldn’t tolerate differences, who wanted to impose their world view and beliefs on others.

“Supergirl…” Lena approached her slowly, aware of the agents that had started to gather around them. “Just… be careful. Please?”

“I will.” Kara smiled. “I promise.”

Once Alex briefed them on the mission, Lena watched as Kara took off in flight, taking Nia with her. J’onn went along with the rest of the DEO agents and Lena and Alex were left alone, staring at the monitors.

Lena started feeling anxious as she watched the still unaware men on the screen. It didn’t matter that Kara had superpowers and was nearly indestructible, she couldn’t stop herself from worrying. She had protected Kara’s life before, when she thought she was human; she had been so scared for her safety and never doubted before putting herself in between her friend and danger. And she had saved Supergirl’s life on more than one occasion, too. The memory of Kara in that hospital bed from just a few weeks ago was painfully vivid. Despite everything, she still found it hard to reconcile that her sweet friend who held her so tenderly, who was so soft, was the same strong woman who could punch through concrete and shoot heat out of her eyes.

Kara and Nia arrived only seconds before the DEO tactical team barged in. It was hard to tell what was happening at first, everyone was fighting or trying to run away, but as soon as her eyes landed on Kara, she couldn’t look away. Greg Dunst got the upper hand at first, punching Kara and sending her flying through the room and crashing against a wall, but with Nia’s help they managed to corner him and Lena watched in fascination as the axe combined with Supergirl’s strength managed to fracture the suit and make him stumble.

She had the utmost faith in Kara and her capabilities, but it was still hard not to be worried. She guessed it didn’t matter that she was made of steel and could fly and had all those superpowers, she was still Kara, and she still worried about her the same as ever, or maybe even more now that she knew the dangers she always faced. She would always feel the need to protect her even if she wasn’t the fragile human she once thought she was. She could still be harmed, and get hurt, and Lena would always do everything in her power to stop that from happening. She could definitely relate to Kara’s worries about her safety right now.

Alex was still instructing her agents, watching the monitors and informing them of those who were hiding or trying to get away. Once Nia and Kara managed to reduce Dunst, J’onn handcuffed him and the few people still fighting surrendered. Lena let out a big, relieved breath when the fight seemed to be over.

“You shouldn’t be here when all these men arrive.” Alex got closer and rested a hand on Lena’s arm in comfort. “I don’t want them to see you and even _think_ about trying anything.”

“Okay.” Lena nodded.

“You should still stay here and wait for Kara. She would kill me if I sent you home alone right now.” Alex smiled.

Nodding, Lena walked into one of the empty labs, emotions still reeling from watching the fight. But as the minutes went by and the certainty that all was over cemented itself, she couldn’t help but feel sad for her work. It wasn’t the most important thing right now, but she and her team had worked very hard for a very long time, and to think that perhaps they would have to start all over again now that they were so close angered her. But there was hope that the damage hadn’t been tremendous, and she would ask later when she could go back to the factory and retrieve her stolen scan. Besides, she had brand new material to investigate and Kara’s approval to start working on making her suit better. It was a comfort after watching her fly through a room today and with the remainder that there could still be things that harmed Kara that they didn’t know about.

“Hey.”

Lena looked up at the sound of Kara’s voice and saw her entering the room with a box on her hands.

“Hi! Are you okay?” Lena slid down from her stool and walked towards Kara.

“Yes, all is well. All men were captured, including Greg Dunst. They will be held for questioning and turned over to the FBI.”

“I knew you could do it.” Lena smiled, looking curiously at the big box Kara was holding and now stretching towards her.

“I hope it isn’t damaged. I know how hard you’ve been working on this.” Lena’s eyebrows rose almost to her hair line as she saw her scan and some loose parts inside the box. “I think I got everything, but we can go back and make sure.”

Kara laid the box down on one of the tables and Lena wordlessly took the scan out of the box. She wasn’t sure why, but she could feel tears prickling in the back of her eyes and emotion searing in her chest. 

“You got it back.” She whispered.

“I tried not to get it harmed in the fight. It was hard, there were many people.” Kara was looking at her with soft eyes.

At a loss for words, Lena lounged forward and wrapped her arms around Kara’s neck, her feet lifting off the ground once Kara’s arms rounded her waist.

“Thank you.” Lena said against her neck, turning sideways to kiss her cheek.

“Sorry to interrupt.” Nia was smirking in the doorway, Alex wearing a similar expression behind her.

They pulled apart as both girls approached.

“So, Lena.” Nia started. “Alex and I had been meaning to give you something.” She drew her hand from behind her back.

“Is today my birthday or something?” Lena joked, trying to conceal the blush that had spread from her cheeks all the way down to her neck. She grabbed the package and tore the paper off to find a folded cotton t-shirt. “What is this?”

“We wanted to officially welcome you as a part of the Superfriends.” Nia grinned.

“Maybe we should’ve got her a special t-shirt.” Alex smirked and raised her eyebrows. “Ow!” She scowled at Kara and grabbed her slapped arm in pain.

“Are you… I thought it was a joke.” Lena looked at Kara before unfolding the shirt to look at the design. She frowned and one of those treacherous tears slid down her cheek and she sniffed. “Oh, thank you.” She said to Alex and Nia, pressing her lips together to stop them from quivering.

Nia and Alex swooned as Kara wrapped Lena in her arms and she hid her face in Kara’s chest.

“You are too kind.” Lena mumbled.

“You guys are too sweet.” Nia pressed a hand against her chest as if her emotions were trying to seep out. 

Kara smiled, wiping the tears from Lena’s cheeks and kissing her forehead.

“So, welcome to the Superfriends.” She joked with a soft smile.

“You won’t get game choosing privilege just because you and Kara –”

“You don’t know anything!” Kara pointed an outraged finger at Nia.

“Oh, please.” Alex rolled her eyes. “Even if we had a lousy gaydar –“

“Which we don’t.” Nia interjected.

“…you’ve been dancing around each other for too long for us not to notice.”

“Have we?” Kara frowned at Lena with a teasing glint in her eyes. Lena shrugged, pretending to be confused.

“You have got to be kidding me.” Alex rolled her eyes in exasperation.

Kara grinned, wrapping her arm around Lena’s shoulders and paying them no mind as they looked at each other.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” Kara smiled at her sister.

“C’mon Nia.” Alex hooked their arms and tugged her along. “We’re too out for Denial Land.”

They could hear their boisterous laughter down the hallway.

Kara turned her head to find Lena watching her intently, biting her lip.

“So, those new memories we’d been talking about…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts? Feelings? Ideas? Cookies? Thank you so much for reading this story! You are appreciated.


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